


In My Memories (I See You)

by Destiel_Sabriel4eva



Series: Uncle Moony [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Book 3: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Book 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Protective Ron Weasley
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-20
Updated: 2018-05-19
Packaged: 2019-04-05 00:56:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 27
Words: 44,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14032635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Destiel_Sabriel4eva/pseuds/Destiel_Sabriel4eva
Summary: Something Ron says triggers a memory and changes the course of everything.Full-length fic based on my one-shot called 'Uncle Moony'





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Uncle Moony](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14021043) by [Destiel_Sabriel4eva](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Destiel_Sabriel4eva/pseuds/Destiel_Sabriel4eva). 



> By request, this is the extension to my one-shot Uncle Moony.  
> I hope it lives up to everyone’s expectations, let me know if there’s something specific you’d like to see in here, I know when it comes to the Marauders we all have a lot of ideas.  
> Most importantly, enjoy!

**_Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter.  This was originally inspired by a Tumblr Post from an unknown user._ **

 

“She needs to sort out her priorities,” Ron tells Harry, suddenly, Harry remembers something from years ago…

_“Come on Harry, say it, say Padfoot.”_

_“Moony.”_

_“Oh, for f-fudge’s sake!”_

_“Told you. I’m his favourite.  Aren’t I?”_

_“Moony.”_

_“Listen here, Harry.  I’m your God-Father and I’m supposed to buy you stuff.  That’s the deal.  So, the least you can do for me is say Padfoot. Pad-foot.  Your Mother’s smart, you should be able to pick this up fairly easily.”_

_“Moony.”_

_“No.  Pad-foot.”_

_“P-”_

_“Yes, keep going.”_

_“P-oo.”_

_“This is ridiculous Harry.  Pad-foot.”_

_“Moony.”_

_“James!  Your child is broken and needs to sort out his priorities!”_

Harry just nods to Ron, unsure what to make of the random memory.  Soon enough he’s distracted by dogs and quidditch and a deadly mystery, his memory forgotten once more.

 

_Two years later…_

“Come on, everywhere else is full,” Hermione tells them, they go into the compartment with the sleeping man.

“Who do you think that is?” Ron wonders.

“Professor R J Lupin.”

“Do you know everything? How is it she knows everything?”

“It’s on his suitcase Ronald.”

“Oh.”  Harry suddenly looks up at the suitcase, eyes widening as he recognises it.

_“MERRY CHRISTMAS! We come bearing presents!”_

_“Come on in, Pads.”_

_“Is that Sirius?”_

_“Yes Lily, and Moony.”_

_“Well I hardly thought one would show up without the other.”_

_“We aren’t attached at the hip you know Lily.”_

_“Of course not Remus.”_

_“Oh, there’s my God-Son, how are you Mini-Prongs?”_

_“Honestly, Sirius, his name is Harry.”_

_“Are you serious?”_

_“I’m not falling for that again.  Harry, say hi to your Uncle Moony and Uncle Padfoot.”_

_“Moony, cholate?”_

_“So that’s how you’ve trained him to say your name.”_

_“Hello?”_

_“Peter!”_

_“I’m not too late am I?”_

_“Not at all, we ready for this?”_

_“Ready for what?”_

_“Well, you see Moony, the four of us decided to pool together for your Christmas present this ye – no don’t start arguing, we’ve already got it, here.”_

_The present is opened revealing a suitcase._

_“Professor RJ Lupin.”_

_“You’re going to need it when you go off to work at Hogwarts.”_

_“Prongs…”_

_“Nope, it’ll happen.  Trust me, will you?”_

_“Thank you, all of you, I love it.”_

_“Moony!”_

_“Oh come on Harry, really?  Come now, say Padfoot.”_

_“Moony.”_

_“Come on Harry.  Say it.  Say Padfoot.”_

Harry comes out of the memory, looking at the man beside him.  Could it be?  Is this the Moony from his memories?

 

_Later…_

“Here, eat this, it’ll help.  It’s all right, it’s chocolate.” Harry shakily takes the chocolate from the man.

_“Harry, say hi to your Uncle Moony and Uncle Padfoot.”_

_“Moony, cholate?”_

_“So that’s how you’ve trained him to say your name.”_

Harry’s face breaks out into a grin before he can help it, words tumbling from his mouth unfiltered.

“Glad to see some things never change, Uncle Moony.” 

3 sets of eyes are glued to his face, all shocked, one hopeful.

Hermione and Ron look at each other in confusion, Remus’ face twitches, eyes misting over as he smiles softly.

“I didn’t think you’d remember me.”  Harry doesn’t mention that for a long time he didn’t, he just leans forward and hugs his Uncle, “I’ve missed you Mini-Prongs.”

“I missed you too Uncle Moony,” Harry replies as his Uncle hugs him back.  For the first time in so very long, Harry has his family, and he is loved.

He swears nothing will take it from him again.

“Guess Dad was right about you being a Professor at Hogwarts.” Remus chuckles.

“My, you do have a good memory.”

“Oh, Ron, Hermione, this is Remus Lupin, he’s an old friend of my Dad’s,” Harry tells them, they seem shocked but shake his hand, “These are my best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.”

“Lovely to meet you both.”

“And you, Professor.”  Harry beams at the three of them, nodding to himself.

“This may just be a good year after all.”  Ron regards Remus with a hint of suspicion that does not go unnoticed by the man, nor by Hermione.  Harry though, he’s about as observant as a brick wall and so it goes completely over his head, “What was that thing, from before?” Harry asks, remembering the dementor.

“One of the dementors of Azkaban, they were searching the train for Sirius Black.”  Harry frowns.

“Someone told me he wants to kill me.” Remus, Hermione, and Ron all look over in alarm before Hermione and Ron look back to Remus.

“I wouldn’t know about that, I’m afraid.  Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to have a quick word with the driver.”

“You’re leaving?” Harry asks, Remus smiles gently at him in a way that is all too familiar to Harry now.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes Harry, I promise.”

“How come you never told us you had another Uncle?” Ron asks him, Harry shrugs.

“I don’t know.  I didn’t even remember him until two years ago when you said something about Hermione needing to get her priorities straight or something –”

“Exc _use_ me?” Hermione asks, Ron rolls his eyes.

“Go on, Harry.”

“Well I forgot about it again, it was a vague memory and then we nearly died and I didn’t think on it again.  Wasn’t until I saw the suitcase that I re-remembered.  My Dad, Mum, Uncle Wormy, and Uncle Padfoot gave it to him.  Dad was sure he’d be a Professor at Hogwarts someday.  He wanted to but he didn’t think he’d ever be able to.  I don’t really remember why except that he’s sick.”

“He did look ill,” Hermione agrees.

“Is that why he left you to Dumb, Dumber, and Dumber still?” Harry snickers, Hermione stomps on his foot.

“There is no need to be rude Ron.”

“What, you’re defending them?”

“Of course not!  I’m only saying it’s unnecessary.”

“Anyway,” Ron says, looking back to Harry and ignoring Hermione’s protests for a second time.

“Yeah, that’s why.  My parents asked both he and Uncle Padfoot to be my God-Parents, Uncle Moony refused, said he’d never be able to get custody because of his condition.  Neither of my Parents tried to convince him otherwise, I think they knew it was true.”

“Still, could’ve visited, couldn’t he?” Ron asks, Harry frowns at him.

“My Aunt and Uncle can’t even hear the _word_ magic without flinching, do you really think they’re going to allow a wizard to pop round for tea for the sake of a child they didn’t even want?” Ron frowns too.

“I spose not.”

“Is that what that look was for?  You don’t trust him because he wasn’t around for Harry?” Hermione asks, surprised though not disagreeing.

“My parents trusted him,” Harry replies.

“Yeah, but they aren’t here Harry, anything could have happened in twelve years. Fact is, I imagine they’d have expected him to be there for you in anyway he could manage.” Harry glares at Ron, opening his mouth to retort when Remus walks back in.  The rest of the trip is silent.

“Look, I get where you’re coming from, I do, but give him a chance, for Harry’s sake.  And if he’s going to up and leave him again, we’ll just kill him, or something,” Hermione whispers quietly to Ron who looks at her in surprise, “I’d do it for Harry, though admittedly not under these circumstances,” She tells him, he nods, “Will you do this?”

He nods once more.

 

When they get off the train, Harry seems torn when Ron and Hermione get on a carriage, knowing Ron won’t want his Uncle on it as well but not wanting to leave him.

“Want to ride with us, Professor?” Ron asks Remus who gives a smile and nods.

“I’d love to.”  Harry smiles at Remus, then at Ron.

At the castle, Remus sees a second year drop her bags and excuses himself to go and help.

“I’m sorry I was a prat, Mate.” Harry shakes his head at his best friend.

“Don’t worry about it.”

As Harry began walking towards the castle a drawling, delighted voice sounded in his ear.  
  
"You fainted, Potter? You actually fainted?"  
  
Malfoy elbows past Hermione to block Harry's way up the stone steps to the castle, his face gleeful and his pale eyes glinting maliciously.  
  
"Shove off, Malfoy," says Ron, whose jaw is clenched.  
  
"Did you faint as well, Weasley?" Malfoy asks loudly, "Did the scary old Dementor frighten you too, Weasley?"  
  
"Is there a problem?" A mild voice asks, they all turn to look and see Remus Lupin.  Malfoy gives an insolent look as he looks over the patched clothing and tattered suitcase.

“Oh no, er, _Professor_.”  He and his cronies walk off laughing.

“Well, he doesn’t seem particularly pleasant,” Remus says, Harry and Ron snicker, “Actually, I probably shouldn’t say that about my students.  Who was that boy?”

“Draco Malfoy,” Hermione replies, Remus’ eyes light up in recognition, “You’ve heard the name?”

“I went to school with his Father.”

“That must’ve been fun,” Ron says sarcastically as they walk into the castle.

“Oh he wasn’t so bad, generally ignored everything he considered below him which was, well, everything.”

“Wish this Malfoy would do that,” Harry mutters, Remus smiles at him.

“He’s young, I’m sure he’ll grow out of it.”  The three teenagers don’t seem to agree.

The door into the Great Hall stood open at the right; Harry follows the crowd toward it, but barely glimpses the enchanted ceiling, which is black and cloudy tonight, when a voice calls, "Potter! Granger! I want to see you both!"  
  
Harry and Hermione turn around, surprised. Professor McGonagall, calls to them over the heads of the crowd. Harry fights his way over to her with a feeling of foreboding. Professor McGonagall has a way of making him feel he must have done something wrong.  
  
"There's no need to look so worried -- I just want a word in my office," she tells them, "Ah, Professor Lupin, welcome back to the school."  She gestures for him to follow her, “Move along Weasley.”

“It’s good to see you again Professor.”

“Now, Remus, I am not your Professor anymore, you may call me Minerva.” He smiles and inclines his head slightly, Harry and Hermione exchange mildly disturbed looks, unable to imagine one day doing so.  
  
Once they get to her office Professor McGonagall motions Harry and Hermione to sit down. She settles herself behind her, "Professor Lupin sent an owl ahead to say that you had taken ill on the train, Potter."

Harry sends a dark look to his Uncle who completely ignores it making Harry huff and turn back to McGonagall.  Before Harry he has a chance to say anything there’s a soft knock on the door and Madam Pomfrey comes bustling in.  
  
"I'm fine," He assures them, "I don't need anything --"  
  
"Oh, it's you, is it?" Madam Pomfrey asks, ignoring his words and bending down to stare closely at him, "I suppose you've been doing something dangerous again?"

“Are you in the habit of doing dangerous things?” Remus asks Harry, disapproval in his voice, Harry flushes slightly.

“Um, not exactly…” Remus raises an eyebrow at him, “Definitely not anymore.”

“Miracles do exist,” Pomfrey comments, Harry sighs.  Everyone seems to be ganging up on him today.  
  
"It was a Dementor, Poppy," Professor McGonagall explains, they exchange a dark look and Madam Pomfrey clucks disapprovingly.  
  
"Setting Dementors around a school,” She mutters, pushing back Harry's hair and feeling his forehead, "He won't be the last one who collapses. Yes, he's all clammy. Terrible things, they are, and the effect they have on people who are already delicate --"  
  
"I'm not delicate!" Harry tells her crossly.  
  
"Of course you're not," Madam Pomfrey says absentmindedly, now taking his pulse.  
  
"What does he need?" Professor McGonagall questions crisply, "Bed rest? Should he perhaps spend tonight in the hospital wing?"  
  
"I'm fine!" Harry insists, jumping up.

"Well, he should have some chocolate, at the very least," says Madam Pomfrey, who is now trying to peer into Harry's eyes.  
  
"I've already had some," Harry says, hoping this is his way out, "Unc-uh-Professor Lupin gave me some. He gave it to all of us."  
  
"Did he, now?" Madam Pomfrey asks, smiling at the man approvingly, "So we've finally got a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher who knows his remedies?"  Remus flushes slightly, “It is very good to see you again Remus.”

“And you Poppy.”  
  
"Are you sure you feel all right, Potter?" Professor McGonagall asks sharply.  
  
"Yes," Harry assures her.  McGonagall nods.

“Very well, please wait outside while I have a word with Miss Granger, and you’d best be on to the feast, _Professor_ ,” McGonagall tells Remus with a small smile, Remus nods, leaving with Harry.

“I’ll see you later Prongslet,” Remus tells him quietly, Harry grins.

When Hermione joins him at last, the two head to the Great Hall and sit with Ron.  The three of them clap louder than anyone when Remus is introduced, and again for Hagrid.  None of them miss the way Snape glares at Remus.

 

“Do you know why they don’t like each other?” Hermione asks Harry later in the common room, Harry shakes his head.

“I don’t really remember much, I was only a year old, it’s pretty amazing I remember anything at all.”

“Do you think he’ll be a good teacher?”

“My Dad certainly thought he would, but, I suppose he could have been saying that as a friend…”

“Dumbledore wouldn’t have hired him if he was no good,” Ron tells them.

“He hired Lockhart, didn’t he?”

“Hey, they’re about the same age, think he went to school with him as well?”

“Maybe, I’m not sure.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t ask,” Hermione says cautiously, they both look at her in confusion, “Well, they might have been friends, and then how are you going to explain the fact that you obliviated him?”

“He obliviated himself Hermione, besides, he attacked us. Uncle Moony won’t be angry at us for defending ourselves, though perhaps a little for putting ourselves in danger to begin with.”

“You said it yourself, you barely remember anything from then,” Hermione points out, “You can’t know how he’d react.  I’m just saying, maybe some things are better left in the past.” The other two fall silent as they think about this, then Harry nods.

“You’re right.”

Not long after, Ginny and Neville walk over to them.

“I hate having a new teacher, I get nervous enough around the ones I know,” Neville says to Ginny.

“He’s only going to be around for a year, what does it matter if you make a bad impression?” The trio exchange looks.

“No, no, we have to break it somehow,” Harry declares.

“Break what?” Ginny asks as she and Neville sit down.

“The jinx on the DADA position,” Ron tells them.

“Is it actually jinxed or do people just say that?  It could be a coincidence,” Hermione points out.

“I don’t believe in coincidences,” Harry replies.

“Why do you want to break it?” Neville asks.

“The new teacher is Harry’s Uncle,” Ron explains.

“Really?  I thought your Uncle was a Muggle.”

“That Uncle is, this is a different Uncle.  He’s really just one of my Dad’s best mates,” Harry tells them.

“Wow, that’s big,” Ginny says, Harry nods, “I’m happy for you.”

“Thanks Gin.”

“Better not tell the twins, they’ll make life hell for him,” She warns.

“Make life hell for whom?” The twins say in tandem from behind Harry, Harry sighs.

“Too late,” Ginny says with a shrug, “Harry’s Uncle is the new DADA teacher.”

“Really?” Fred asks as the two sit down.

“It’s like I’m playing on repeat,” Harry says to Hermione who chuckles, “Yes, he’s my Uncle Moony, now please don’t make things difficult for him.” The twins suddenly exchange looks, then both look at Harry warily, “What?”

“Did you just –”

“–say Moony?”

“Um, yes?”

“We have Lupin first up tomorrow, best give him a proper welcome, right George?” George frowns.

“Fred, we don’t even know if we’ve got the right man.”  They seem stumped for a moment, then both look up at once.

“We test him,” They say simultaneously.

“What are you two on about?” Ron asks.

“We have to go.”

“Excuse us.”

“I would not like to be Professor Lupin tomorrow,” Neville says, Harry tilts his head to the side in thought.

“You know, I really think he might enjoy it.”

“Why?” Harry shrugs.

“I don’t know, just a feeling.”


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

**_Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter._ **

 

When Remus walks into his class room for his first class, he’s nervous, very nervous.

Then, he notices a charm on his chair that would have had the legs turn to jelly the moment he sat down.  He wordlessly banishes the charm before he sits down, noticing the looks of surprise on the Weasley Twins faces.  He’d been warned about them.

Of course, ten minutes in and he’s thwarted six attempts to pull one over on him, that seems a bit excessive, even for what he’s heard of them.

After everything they’ve set up is gone, they move on to trying to subtly set new things up or hit him with jinxes and hexes directly.  All in good fun of course, he’s actually enjoying seeing their growing determined expressions each time he catches something.

By the end of the lesson, the large majority of his students seem happy to have him teaching them.

“Fred, George, would you mind staying behind please,” Remus requests lightly, they exchange looks and walk up, classmates muttering as they try to guess what the twins could have possibly already done.

“Yes Professor?”

“I must give you credit for your perseverance, thirty-six unique attempts to haze me, I’m impressed.”

“We don’t know what you mean, Sir.”

“Of course not.” Fred and George exchange looks.

“In fact, we solemnly swear that were not up to no good,” Fred says, Remus’ eyes widen slightly and the twins know they have the right man.

“Well, then I suppose no mischief was managed.” They all share a secret smile before Remus nods, “You may go.”

 

“How were your first lessons Remus?” Minerva asks him at lunch, he smiles.

“Well, I met Fred and George,” He says, looking amused, the other teachers look intrigued and exasperated.

“What did they do to ‘welcome you to the school’?” Filius asks.

“I can assure you that no such nonsense was pulled in my class.”

“Thwarted them at every turn?” McGonagall guesses, he nods.

“Somehow, I am not surprised you were able to notice and anticipate them,” Dumbledore tells him, Remus gives him a sheepish look.

“I do hope I don’t have to remind you that you are an adult and Professor now.”

“Honestly Minerva, I’m not going to get them back,” Remus replies, sounding rather affronted.

“I had to be sure.” Remus sighs, conceding the point.  Of course, now that she’s mentioned it all these ideas are going through his head.

_Don’t be an idiot, don’t be an idiot, don’t be an idiot._

 

Later in the week he teaches the third years for the first time.  Harry and his friends are looking forward to it, especially after receiving glowing endorsements from everyone Remus had taught so far, and the look of respect the Twins gave him.  Remus, though…Remus is nervous.  He wants more than anything to do well and is nervous about stuffing up.  What if he does terribly?  He’s surprised about how much he wants Harry to like him.  Besides, he’s still trying to win over Ron.  He couldn’t help but overhear the conversation between Hermione and Ron in the compartment on the train thanks to his lycanthropic hearing.  He’s actually really glad and appreciative of Ron’s suspicions, it means he genuinely cares for Harry and will look out for him.  But it’s left him with an inexplicable need to prove himself and gain the approval of Harry’s friends.  It seems pretty pathetic to him, trying to prove he deserves a place in his nephew’s life.  _Not that I do.  Escaped murderer coming to kill said nephew and I haven’t even told Dumbledore about his Animagus form._ Remus sighs to himself before realising he’s running late.

 

The lesson goes well, though Snivellus is just as unpleasant as he remembers.  To be so cruel to a student though, Remus tuts to himself as he sorts through his desk a bit.  He’s never been the tidiest of creatures, but this is ridiculous, even for him.  Then McGonagall walks in.

“What is this I hear about you blowing Peeves up?” Remus frowns as he looks up in confusion.

“I can assure you, I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.  Well, some idea, well…the rumour mill blowing an encounter I had with Peeves grossly out of proportion.”  She raises an eyebrow at him.

“Then what _did_ happen?”

“I was merely trying to stop him from sticking chewing gum in a keyhole.”  She doesn’t look convinced, “All right, I sent it flying into his nostril, but it worked all the same.”

“ _Professor_ Lupin, you are meant to be setting an example to your class.”

“With all due respect, Minerva, I’m not sure it’s _my_ example you should be concerned about.”

“So you deny conjuring Severus in Mr Longbottom’s clothing?”

“I do indeed, technically speaking Neville did.” Minerva’s face twitches, “We were working with Boggarts, it had to be something he’d find amusing based off of the boggart.”

“What on Earth was his boggart?”

“Severus Snape.” Minerva’s eyes widen a fraction, “Which brings me back to my point.  I’m not sure I’m the one you should be worrying about.  You know he threatened to poison Trevor?  Insulted Neville in front of the entire class, bad-mouthing him to another Professor in front of everyone, and the poor kid looked resigned to it all.”  McGonagall sighs.

“Remus, I am well aware the two of you don’t get along, but –”

“That has nothing to do with this.  My only concern here is the welfare of my students.  Neville, of all people, should not be more afraid of his Potions’ Master than anything else.”  Minerva sighs again, nodding.

“I will speak with Severus.  _You_ will take more care in what you say and do in front of your students.  If I see _one_ instance of flying chewing gum _you’ll_ be in detention, am I understood?” Remus sighs, nodding.

“Yes Professor.”

“Good.”  With that she leaves, Remus pinches the bridge of his nose.

“She doesn’t seem to trust you very much,” A voice says from the doorway, Remus looks up to see Ginny Weasley.

“Ginny, can I help you wish something?” He asks kindly, she shakes her head.

“No, I just wanted to thank you.  No one’s ever stood up to Snape before except Harry, and even then it was in defence of himself.  Neville’s a nervous bloke, it’s good to have someone else watching out for him too.” Remus smiles at her.

“You seem like exactly the kind of friend he needs.”

“I like to think so.  I have a question, now that I think about it.”

“Yes?”

“Why don’t you and Snape get along?”

“Professor Snape, Ginny.”

“Right, him.” Remus bits back the smirk, he’s not sure he succeeds if the look on her face is anything to go by.

“Severus and I went to school here together, we were in the same year.  I’m afraid we never really got along.  But we’re adults now, we’ll learn to work together.”  Ginny frowns.

“I don’t think he’s bitter,” she says suddenly, he raises his eyebrows, “Everyone says he’s a bitter old bully but, I don’t think he’s bitter.  I think he’s just sad and short-tempered.  It’s not the same as being bitter, not really.  If I’m right, then maybe all he needs is a friend.”  Remus smiles at her.

“I’m not sure I’m really the right person to try and befriend him, Ginny.” She shrugs.

“He’s not going to get _more_ irritable if you try.” Remus nods.

“Very true.”

 

 

“So, want to tell me why I just did that?” Ginny asks her older brother, Ron frowns thoughtfully as he looks out of a window in the abandoned classroom they are in.

“Don’t mention this to anyone Gin.”  She shrugs.

“Okay, but don’t forget you’re getting Hermione to do my transfiguration essay.”  He nods dismissively, “And you promised Harry wouldn’t be hurt by this.”

“I’m not going to hurt my own best mate Ginny.”  She holds her hands up placatingly.

“Okay, okay.  But whatever you’re doing…be careful.  There’s more than one way to hurt someone.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter chapter than I intended, but now I have some idea of where this is going, next chapter should be easier.  
> Hope it came out okay 


	3. Chapter 3

****

Life goes well, easily, properly, like everything is as it should be.  For a while anyway.  Then comes Draco’s stupid prank.  The result of which, is Severus and Remus arguing in Dumbledore’s office.

“He’s just going to get away with it?”

“Are you really going to stand there and say you disapprove of such _harmless jokes_?”

“Honestly Severus, this isn’t the 70s and we aren’t children, this has absolutely nothing to do with us!  And even if it did, isn’t this exactly the sort of thing we would have done to you that you’d get so annoyed we got away with?”

“Tell me Lupin, what is it you want done?  You know very well detention won’t deter either of them any.  So what would have stopped your lot?” Remus has quite a number of things to say to that, and none of them are nice.

“At least giving him detention or deducting house points wouldn’t leave Harry feeling victimised and alone.”

“Potter is hardly innocent in these matters.”

“Isn’t he?  Or are you just projecting your hatred for his Father onto an innocent boy?” Severus’ glare could cut steel.

“I don’t need to project anything, he _is_ just like his father.”

“Yes, he is, in all the good ways.  He’s kind, he’s loyal, he’s self-sacrificing.  James may have been an arrogant git when he was a kid, but he grew into an exceptional man.  Don’t take the fact that you can’t see that out on my nephew.”

“So it’s favouritism then.”

“I would be standing for the victim in this regardless of who they are.  And may I point out, Draco is your god-son.”

“Yes, and where is Potter’s God-Father again?” Minerva gasps, eyes widening, Albus sighs, “You say Potter is such a good person, grew to be so great.  You used to say similar things of loyalty and self-sacrifice about Black.  Tell me, what do you have to say about him now?” One moment, Remus is standing there, angry yet collected.  The next, Severus is on the ground with a broken nose and Remus is re-discovering that punching someone really hurts!

“Um…” The group looks over to see Penelope Clearwater.

“Ah, yes, that was this afternoon.  If you would wait outside for just a moment Miss Clearwater, I will be right with you,” Dumbledore requests, gesturing to the door, Penelope sort of whimpers as she rushes to comply, “Go and see Madam Pomfrey to get your nose healed, Severus.”

“I am more than capable of healing a broken nose, Headmaster.”

“I did not ask if you were capable of it, I requested that you go to Madam Pomfrey to have it healed.”  Severus scowls and stalks out of the room.

“Out of my way!” They hear him demand as he passes the Ravenclaw Prefect.

“Now, Remus,” Albus begins, Remus sighs, nodding.

“I know sir, I shouldn’t have punched him or argued with him like a child.” Dumbledore seems amused and pleased.

“I know you know.  That is why I was merely going to suggest you go and check on young Harry.”  Remus looks at his boss in surprise, then nods slowly and walks out of the room.

“Why do you always turn a blind eye with them?” Minerva asks Albus who sighs deeply, weary in a way Minerva hasn’t seen him since the end of the war.

“You see them as being the immature children of days long passed, but that is not the case, Minerva.  What we are dealing with is a man so haunted by the past he cannot move on from it, and another who cannot bear to look back.  One who cannot dare to hope and another too afraid to admit he lost true hope long ago.  Severus does not know how to cope with the fact that he survived the events that have lead us to now, Remus does not know how to cope with being the _only_ one to have survived.  There was never going to be peace with things this way.  Neither can move on and the ways in which they cope with this directly contradict the other.” Minerva seems just as worn down as he.

“Then what do we do?” Albus looks down at his desk.

“We find Black, we put him back where he belongs, and we watch as Harry heals his Uncle in ways he won’t ever know.”

“And if he can’t?” Minerva catches Albus’ eyes, he seems focused, serious, grounded.  He looks at her, a certainty in his face that she can’t quantify.

“Then we will have far more problems than a broken nose.”

 

The next day, most of the school had heard about the confrontation.  Many had seen Severus’ nose prior to it being healed and rumours had quickly spread.  In an effort to dispel some of the rather colourful ones, Penelope spread the truth around.  Harry had shone with pride at the knowledge that Remus had stood up for him, Penelope had enough sense to leave out everything she heard about Sirius Black.

 

“Sir, is it true you punched Professor Snape?” Justin Finch-Fletchley asks during his next lesson, Remus sighs as the class breaks into murmurs again, Remus holds a hand up, effectively silencing them all in an instant.

“What is true is that Professor Snape and I had a disagreement and I lost my temper.  Let this be a lesson to you all to practice far more patience than I.”  Harry blinks as he looks at him, remembering something from years ago…

_“Patience Padfoot, patience.”_

_“I don’t want to be patient Moony, just let me have it!”_

_“You have to wait for them to cool down Sirius.  Look, even Prongslet’s waiting.”_

_“Little Mini-Prongs doesn’t have the vocabulary to protest, but I promise, if he could, he wuld.”_

_“Oh, honestly Pads.  If I give one to you I have to give one to Harry or he’ll pout, they are too hot.  Let the blasted cookies cool,_ then _you can have one.”_

_“Blassssted.”_

_“Oops.”_

_“Oh Lily is going to_ kill _you.”_

_“Me?  This is your fau-don’t you run away you coward!  SIRIUS ORION BLACK!”_

_“You wouldn’t hurt the person holding your Nephew would you?”_

_“Blasssssted.”_

_“Kill me now.”_

_“Why is Sirius killing you?”_

_“Lily!  Hi, you’re home, welcome home, how_ are _you my friend?”_

_“…”_

_“…”_

_“…What’s going on?”_

_“Nothing, nothing at all, why would something be going on?”_

_“Blassssted.”_

_“Crap.”_

Harry frowns, blinking away the memory as he looks outside.  For a moment, he could swear he saw a giant black dog.  It seemed familiar somehow…and that’s when it clicks.

_Padfoot, Sirius, Pads, SIRIUS ORION BLACK, Sirius…Padfoot…SIRIUS ORION BLACK…Padfoot…say hi to your Uncle Moony and Uncle Padfoot…_

Harry’s eyes widen.

As soon as lesson ends he sprints out, running all the way back to the dorm and shutting himself into his bunk, pulling out the photo album Hagrid had put together for him two years ago.  Inside is a picture of his parent’s wedding.  He knows his Uncle Padfoot was his Dad’s best man, he doesn’t know how he knows, but it’s something he just knows without being told, like he doesn’t remember being taught his name is Harry, but he knows it.

And there, standing beside his Mum and Dad on, arguably, the happiest day of their life, is a man Harry now recognises for two reasons.

One, because he can now remember the face of his God-Father, and two, because he’s seen it in the papers.  Unkempt and mad as he may now be, there is no denying the truth.

“Sirius Black is my Uncle Padfoot.”  Suddenly his curtains are torn open and Ron stands before him.

“He _what_?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear these chapters are getting shorter and shorter, I am so sorry.  
> I told someone I had like three things to do today and should have easily written two chapter, but one of those three things ended up taking about 4 hours when I was expecting about one, maybe one and a half. Anyways, so it’s now 10:17pm here and I’ve only just now finished this chapter.  
> Hopefully, and I know I said this last time, but hopefully next chapter will be longer.  
> Anyways, hope this is going okay, I have a far more solid idea of what I’m doing with it now, and that always helps when writing.  
> See ya next time 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer - I do not own Harry Potter :(

“Um, Professor, Harry’s not here, he’s not feeling well,” Ron tells McGonagall with an awkward cringe as she calls out his name on the roll.

“So you’ve said for the past three days, has he seen Madam Pomfrey?” Ron shakes his head.

“I-I’ll get him to go this afternoon.”  McGonagall nods.

“See that you do, I expect him in class on Monday unless Madam Pomfrey tells me otherwise.” Ron frowns, about to open his mouth and remind his teacher that it’s Thursday when she gives him a rather significant look, then his eyes widen, he smiles, and he nods.  She gives a slight lip quirk as well before returning to the class.

 

“C’mon Mate, it’s been three days,” Ron tells his best friend.

“Did those three days bring my parents back to life or change the fact that my Uncle and God-Father tried to kill me and _did_ kill my parents by telling Voldemort where we were hiding?”  Ron sighs, it’s not as though he could tell him he was overreacting, Ron’s counting himself lucky Harry hasn’t declared his intention to murder the man like Ron surely would have in his place.  _Though,_ Ron supposes, _I wouldn’t remember loving him like Harry does._

“You can’t hide out in your bunk forever.”

“I can try.”

“Look, why don’t you go speak to Professor Moony...wait…Lupin…Professor _Lupin_.” Ron shakes his head at himself, Harry looks at him, chuckling.  Ron chuckles too, and then they are both laughing rather hysterically.

“I am calling him that in class now,” Harry decides, Ron nods.

“Me too.”

“I wonder how long it will take to catch on.”  Ron frowns.

“It’d happen quicker if you were in class tomorrow to do it as well.”  Harry fiddles with his quilt cover.

“He’s still after me.”

“I know mate.”

“If he could escape all this time, why do it now?” Ron’s brow furrows as he thinks about that.

“I don’t know mate, but I know who might.”

 

_Knock Knock Knock_

“Uncle Moony?”

“Harry!  How are you?”  Remus asks, looking up from the paper he’s marking tiredly, Harry frowns.

“Are you all right?” Remus’ smile grows rather forced in Harry’s opinion as he nods.

“Oh yes, quite all right.”  Harry’s frown deepens as he remembers a conversation from years ago.

_“Mr Pettigrew, Mr Potter, where are the others?”_

_“They send their apologies, Headmaster, but Remus’-erm-condition was flaring up and Sirius didn’t want to leave him alone.  You know how he has flare ups on occasion.”_

_“Yes, of course James, how thoughtless of me.”_

“Flare up?” Harry asks, Remus looks at him in surprise, “There was a meeting in our house.  Not…not the one I remember the most.  One I haven’t remembered before, but it was ours.  Dumbledore was there, so were Dad and Uncle Peter, so were Mum and I.  Dumbledore asked where you a-um, where you were and Dad said your condition had flared up again.” Remus nods slowly.

“You really do have an exceptional memory, Harry.”  Harry shakes his head.

“Not really.  I forget things quickly but words or events or objects, smells, sounds, they bring back flashes of memories sometimes.  I often forget them again but, not always.  Apparently remembering things from early childhood isn’t uncommon in kids who face trauma young…some things just aren’t forgotten I suppose.  Not completely.”  Remus frowns, looking him over.

“What else do you remember Harry?” Harry looks at him seriously, then he shrugs.

“Bunch of random stuff.  Dad and the others giving you your suitcase.  Me saying Moony before my other Uncles’ names.  You liking chocolate a lot.  Dad drawing a snitch on my bedroom wall and enchanting it so that it moves over the walls and ceiling.” Remus smiles fondly, misty-eyed.

“Lily almost murdered him for that.” Harry frowns, “I hear you haven’t been feeling well.”

“Yes but um, I’m feeling better now,” Harry lies, Remus raises an eyebrow at him, Harry just smiles slightly and nods.

“Very well, would you like some tea?”

“I’d like that very much.” As Remus begins making tea, Harry reflects on his choice to say nothing about Black.  He’d seen how Remus responded to his question on the train.  It’s clear he cared about the man a great deal.  If Harry can barely deal with it while only knowing him as a vague shadow of a memory, how must it be for his Uncle Moony?  No, Hermione was right, some things are better left in the past.  Black will be caught and everything will be back to normal, and he’ll have his Uncle Moony, “Oh, Ron accidentally called you Professor Moony, so that’s sticking.” Remus laughs as he pours the tea.

“You really are your Father’s son.”

 

Later that day Sirius tries to break into the tower.

“Did you end up talking to him about _him_?” Ron whispers to Harry as they lay in their sleeping bags, Harry sighs, shaking his head.

“No, I decided to just move on.  I thought it might upset him, talking about it and knowing I remember him.”

“I just don’t understand why he’s doing this, why he did any of it,” Ron tells him, Harry looks up at the enchanted ceiling.

 _“You are so loved Harry.”_ Harry blinks away the tears the memory of his Mother’s voice brings.

“Neither do I,” Harry replies, then determination fills him, “But I’m not going to let him kill me, and I’m certainly not going to lay around hidden in this blasted castle.”

“Harry, what are you talking about?”

“He killed my parents, he tried to kill me, and he’s trying again.  Imagine what this must be like for Moony!  No, if the Ministry is unable to find him, then I’ll do it myself.” Ron frowns, “He’s coming after me.  I hope he finds me.  When he does, I’m going to be ready.  When he does, I’m going to kill him.”

The doors open and Snape walks in with Dumbledore.  Ron knows he can’t reply now, but he’ll have to convince Harry to drop this somehow.  Soon as Hermione is awake he’s bringing her into this.  Murderous cat or no.

 

Remus Lupin stands by a window, looking out at the Whomping Willow, and feeling his soul continue to slowly shatter as it has been for twelve years.  He finally has Harry back, but with Sirius around, how long will that last? 

 _‘I have to tell Dumbledore about Padfoot,’_ Remus tells himself, blinking away the tears, _‘I am not betraying him, he betrayed us,’_ He reminds himself, “I’m all Harry has left to keep him safe,” He says aloud.

“Well that’s not entirely true.”  Remus turns and sees Neville standing in the doorway to his office.

“Neville, can I help you with something?” He asks, forcing cheer upon his face.

“No Sir.  I just, you seemed familiar somehow, so I owled my Gran about you.  She sent me this,” He replies, handing over a photo, “She sent two, she didn’t think you were likely to have one.  Something about a firework mishap?” Remus chuckles slightly as he looks at the photo.  Graduation day, he’s beside Frank who had pulled Alice out of the correct position to stand beside him.  Remus had complained about being a third wheel and dragged his best friend to stand beside him, that best friend being Peter Pettigrew.  Sirius and James would go off and do their own thing leaving Peter and Remus alone, they grew to be very close.  Until Sirius took everything. Remus nods.

“Thank you Neville.” Neville smiles awkwardly and then turns to leave.

“Professor,” He says, looking back, Rmeus looks up, “He really isn’t alone, you know.  Half the school would come to Harry’s side if he needed help.  And we’d come to your side too.” Remus smiles at the boy, a genuine smile this time, nodding.

“Thank you.”  Neville nods back and walks out.  Remus turns back to the Whomping Willow before looking down at the photo.  He spots all his old friends and sighs.

_‘I’m going to tell Dumbledore.’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, checked back through the book and discovered that Sirius’ first break-in is actually long before Malfoy’s stupid dementor prank so, that’s my bad. Somehow managed to forget the order of events in my favourite HP book, oops.  
> Anyways…for the sake of this we’re all just going to pretend it happened the other way around 


	5. Chapter 5

**_Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter._ **

 

Ron and Ginny are in an intense game of wizards chess, Harry watching while Hermione works on her Werewolf essay, suddenly she gasps.

“Oh!”

“Hermione?” Harry asks, she looks up at him, then her eyes widen and she points at him.

“Oh!  Oh oh oh!  Oh I get it! Oh…oh dear…but that means he…that ruddy coward!” Ginny and Ron turn away from their game to look at her in shock, she glares at her essay, “Where are Fred and Geo-no, better yet…excuse me.  I have to go and find Peeves,” she tells them with a rather evil glint in her eyes before she gets up and walks out of the common room, “I would suggest you all remain here and travel in groups to ensure an alibi for the next few days,” She adds, “And steer clear of Snape.” She shuts the Portrait behind her.

“What just happened?” Ron questions, Harry shrugs, Ginny looks at Hermione’s essay thoughtfully, but then shakes her head.

“No idea, but I expect Snape will be finding out before we do.”

“So we just…wait?” Harry asks, Ginny frowns.

“Spose we better start those essays ourselves,” Ron mutters, glaring at it and looking like he’d rather be doing anything else.

“Tell you what, Ron, if you beat me in this match, I’ll do both your essays for you, and if I win, you have to do my transfiguration assignment, deal?” Ginny asks, Ron looks at her suspiciously, Harry likes the sound of the deal.

Ginny makes a fatal mistake in the chess game and loses.  Suddenly, Lupin isn’t the only one Ron’s keeping an eye on.

 

“Professor Moony!” Hermione calls, jogging down the corridor to catch him as he leaves his office.

“Hermione, I don’t mean to be rude but I was just on my way to see the Headmast–”

“I know why you’ve been missing clases,” She interrupts, he looks at her calculatingly before giving a strained smile.

“Ah.”  He gestures to his office, she walks in and takes a seat at his desk.  He shuts the door before sitting in his own chair, “How did you work it out?”

“I was curious about your frequent disappearances, so is tarted counting the weeks between them.  Then Professor Snape set an essay about Werewolves…I only worked it out when I read that scars made by Werewolves always remain visible,” She tells him stiltedly, the last part coming out a tad sheepish, he nods slowly, “The name ‘Moony’ was also a bit of a clue.”

“Hermione I understand if you are uncomfortable with the idea of my teaching he-”

“No, Professor, I’m not.” Remus raises an eyebrow.

“You are not?”

“No.”  She fidgets a bit, “This is why you didn’t take Harry in, isn’t it?” Remus seems sad, nodding warily, “I couldn’t work out why you wouldn’t at least talk to him, but I think I know now.  You’re ashamed.  You’re ashamed of what you are and you thought by letting him forget about you you were doing him a favour.  You thought his life would be better without a Werewolf about, right?” Remus doesn’t respond, but he doesn’t really need to, “You were wrong Professor,” She tells him strongly, “Have you ever met his Aunt and Uncle?”

“I met his Aunt a few times but only ever briefly, I met Vernon once.”  Hermione nods.

“I don’t believe anyone can meet them even once and not realise they are horrible people.  They are horrible to him and he deserves better.”  Remus seems pained, “My point is, Professor, no matter what happens you are not leaving him again.  His best interests at heart or not, you haven’t helped him.  So, you are going to promise me something, right here, right now.  You are going to promise that should something go wrong, you will fight to keep this position so that you can be here for Harry.  No being resigned to things going terribly, no running away again, and no letting your own abysmal sense of self-worth prevent you from being Harry’s Uncle.  To do anything else will be entirely selfish, and if you are willing to do that, then perhaps Harry really _is_ better off without you.” Remus looks completely gobsmacked, she sort of feels the same way, did she really just say all that to a teacher?

“Hermione, you do not understand what the world is like for people like me.”

“DAMN WHAT THE WORLD IS LIKE FOR YOU!” She yells, he jolts back in surprise, “YOU SHOULD SEE WHAT THE WORLD IS LIKE FOR HIM!” She breathes heavily as she watches him, “You are not the only one with scars,” She says, far quieter, “That boy, your nephew, has more than his fair share as well.  If you leave him again, it will not be for his benefit, it will be you running away in fear.  You being a _coward_.  So, either promise to be there for him, or don’t be here now.  He deserves better than to be let down again.  So if it’s going to happen, I’d rather get it over with now, _before_ Black tries to murder him again only for him to discover that the one he thought he could count on isn’t there.”  Remus’ eyes fill with tears, he turns away, wiping at the discreetly.

“You remind me of his Mother, you know.  Lily gave me a speech rather like that one many years ago.”

“Well I hope I was more convincing,” She tells him, unsure how to deal with being compared to _The_ Lily Potter, “Or at the very least that you’ll decide to listen to me anyway.”  Remus finally turns back to her, nodding.

“I promise, I won’t leave him if I can help it.  But if…the nature of my condition were to get out, there may be nothing I can do. If what you’ve said about Snape’s essay is true then…”  She smiles disarmingly.

“I wouldn’t worry about that if I were you.”  He frowns, she shrugs, “I just think he might find himself a bit too busy to give you a second thought.”

“This conversation is causing me great concern.”

“On an unrelated note,” She says in a tone showing it will be anything but unrelated, “I was talking to Peeves earlier.  Noticed you two seem to get along better than anyone ever gets along with him, even _he_ had noticed Snape giving you a hard time.” Remus tries not to smile, he really does, he fails.

“Harry’s lucky to have you, Hermione.” Hermione nods.

“Yes, he is.  He’s lucky to have you too.  I don’t know a lot of people who love someone so much they’d leave them like you did.  But now you need to love him enough to stay.  For you, I think, that may prove more difficult.”  Remus nods seriously.

“I’m not going anywhere.”  Hermione nods, once, satisfied.

“Good.”

 

 

“The Patronus is a kind of positive force, a projection of the very things Dementors feed upon – hope, happiness, the desire to survive – but it cannot feel despair, as real humans can, so the Dementor cannot hurt it.  But I must warn you, Harry, that the charm might be too advanced for you. Many qualified wizards have difficulty with it.”

“What does a Patronus look like?” Harry asks, hanging on his Uncle’s every word.

“Each one is unique to the wizard who conjures it.”

“And how do you conjure it?”

“With an incantation, which will work only if you are concentrating with all your might, on a single, very happy memory.”  Harry frowns, thinking.  He wracks his brain for his happiest memory, immediately trying to think of ones with his parents or his Uncles.  The problem is, all of them feel tainted somehow.  Whether by Black, Voldemort, or Harry himself, he has no idea.  Only that, he doesn’t think any of them will work.  Out of options, he settles for the first time he rode a broom.

It doesn’t work.

He tries the moment Gryffindor won the house cup last year, that doesn’t work either.

“I heard my Dad,” Harry mumbles as he wakes up from fainting again, “That’s the first time I’ve ever heard him because of a Dementor – he tried to take on Voldemort himself, to give my mum time to run for it…” Harry trails off, vaguely realising he’s crying.  He tries to hide it, but a quick look at his Uncle shows his eyes are shining too.

“You heard James?” Harry nods, Remus seems very conflicted.  It’s then that Harry realises something.  He’s not the only one who knows about Black, and in trying to save his Uncle from a hard conversation, he may just have isolated himself and his Uncle from the only people left who can understand them.

“I know who Sirius Black is.” Remus looks at him in confusion, “To me.  I know who he is to me.”

“W-What are you talking about?” Remus asks, voice wavering slightly, Harry takes a deep breath before walking closer.

“I know that he’s my… _was_ my Uncle Padfoot, and my God-Father.” Remus looks away, not quick enough to hide the pained expression from his nephew, “I don’t blame you, Uncle Moony.  I-I really don’t know why you do, but I don’t.”

“I don’t blame myself Harry, I know none of what happened was my fault.  I merely regret that I couldn’t have done more.  But I could never have predicted he’d…” Remus sighs, leaning against a desk.

“I remember you two were really close.  I don’t remember ever seeing one of you without the other, and I remember Mum teasing you two about it and you claiming not be attached at the hip, so I know this can’t be easy for you.  I-It’s not easy for me either.  I mean, he wants to kill me.  I just…I thought maybe it would be better if we both knew we weren’t alone in this.” 

“Oh Harry,” Remus says, finally turning back around and immediately embracing the teenager, “Harry you aren’t alone.  I am so sorry you were, I never should have left.  But you won’t be alone, not ever again, not so long as I have a say in it.”

“He won’t stop trying to kill me because you ask nicely, Uncle Moony.”  Remus nods.

“I know.  That’s why I won’t ask nicely.”

Harry doesn’t question what he means by that.

 

After his conversation with Hermione, Remus realised he can’t tell Dumbledore about Padfoot, not without risking his position within the school.  But Harry is right, Sirius won’t stop hunting him.  So Remus will just have to track him down himself.  And really, knowing him so well, how hard can that be?

 

During their next Anti-Dementor lesson, Harry again fails to produce a Patronus, and the memory of his parents’ murders is getting more vivid.

This time, he sees it too, and what he sees changes everything.

_His Mother screams, Harry sees a flash of green light, feels the power wash over him and knows, even within his infant mind, that this is true evil.  It hurts, it burns his soul, and then it goes, leaving Harry wailing in its wake._

_A man enters the room when the other is forced out, Harry sees his Mummy on the ground and doesn’t understand why she chose to sleep there._

_“Unc Worm!” Harry cries, Peter looks at him, fear on his face._

_“How could he have failed?”_

“…Harry!” Harry gasps as he wakes up, looking at Remus in the face, frightened.

“It wasn’t Padfoot.”

“What are you talking about Harry?”

“It wasn’t Uncle Padfoot who was working for Voldemort.  I remember it, I remember that night.  The traitor, he was there too, but it wasn’t Sirius Black.” Remus frowns even as his eyes widen, the implications of it all slowly setting in.

“But then – who?” Harry bites his lip, feeling bile rise in the back of his throat as tears fall freely down his face.  Somehow, he just knows, this will break his Uncle in ways Harry can’t understand.  But what choice does he have?  He can’t let Sirius go back to Azkaban, he’s innocent!  And that damned rat, ‘How could he have failed’ the traitor walked past the bodies of two of his best friends, and that’s all he has to say to Harry?  To the boy he orphaned?  No.  He won’t get away with this.

“Wormtail.”


	6. Chapter 6

**_Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter_ **

 

“Wormtail.” Remus blinks at his Nephew, his mind running a million miles per hour, unable to comprehend what’s being said.

“B-But Peter’s dead, Sirius killed him.”

“Revenge, maybe?  He at least had to know who really betrayed us, right?” Remus sits back, feeling dizzy as he absentmindedly hands Harry some chocolate which the boy begins eating.

“Then he’s still a murderer,” Remus points out, unsure why he’s trying to prove Sirius’ guilt.

“But he’s not a traitor, at the very least one murder isn’t worth twelve years in Azkaban, surely he could be released now?” Harry says, almost pleading.

“It wasn’t just one murder, Harry!” Harry looks confused, Remus sighs, dropping his head into his hands, “Thirteen Muggles.  He killed thirteen muggles as well.  Even if he didn’t betray us to Voldemort, he still earnt his place in Azkaban and he’s still dangerous.”

“But if he’s not here to kill me then why’s he here?  Surely he must know being anywhere near Albus Dumbledore is a sure-fire way to get caught, not to mention this was the first place everyone thought he’d go to.” Remus frowns.

“Perhaps he wanted to check up on you, insane or not, he cared about James, he cared about you.”

“He’s not insane!”

“Harry –”

“No!  Don’t you see?  If they were wrong about one thing then they could be wrong about this.  Besides, even if he _did_ kill Uncle Peter –”

“I don’t care about him killing Peter!  If you are right and he was the traitor then he deserved everything he got, but those Muggles didn’t!” Harry falls quiet.

“I don’t believe it.” Remus sighs.

“There were witnesses Ha…” Remus frowns as he trails off, everything finally sinking in and allowing him to think clearly, “The witnesses, they saw Peter shouting about Sirius being the one to betray Lily and James…if he didn’t…then Peter set the whole thing up which means…”

“He killed the muggles,” Harry says hesitantly, Remus scoffs slightly though not derisively.

“More than that Prongslet, he may be alive!  That’s got to be why Sirius escaped now even though he’s always had the capability to, he’s here, Peter is here!  But…how could he know that?”

“Hold on, if a dead man were walking around the school, wouldn’t someone have noticed?” Remus hesitates.

“Not if he isn’t a man.”

“What?”

“Come with me,” He directs before walking out of the classroom, Harry jogs to keep up.

“Where are we going?”

“To find the twins.”

“The Weasley twins?  Why?”

“They have something I need to find Sirius.”

“We should tell Ron and Hermione, they may be able to help.”

“Harry, I’m not involving school students in the hunt for a man who may or may not be a murderer, I’m also not brining you to find a man who may or may not want you dead.”

“But he doesn’t!  We know that now!”

“I’m not risking anyone’s life based on a memory from when you were a year old brought on by repeated exposure to a dementor-boggart.”

“But you’ll do it yourself?”

“I can handle myself, besides, it’s long past time I track him down and turn him over anyway, should have done so months ago.”

“I’ve slain a Basilisk with a sword, I think I can handle one man who _isn’t_ trying to kill me.” Remus stops short just outside the entrance to the Gryffindor common room.

“Where’d you get a sword?”  Harry blinks at him in surprise.

“Most people tend to question the Basilisk,” He tells him, looking amused, Remus gets a strange look on his face.

“Yes, well, this school has a habit of harbouring dangerous animals,” Remus replies before opening the portrait and walking inside, Harry at his heels.

“Uncle Moony –”

“I said no, Harry.”  Remus looks around the room, spotting the twins easily enough, “Fred, George, mind if I have a word with you both?” They look at each other and shrug before walking over to him, “I need the map.” 

“All due respect Professor Moony, you _are_ a Professor now…”

“…Handing it over would be sacrilege.”

“And not handing it over could very well mean being an accomplice to a murder.  I need it to find Black, hand it over, I promise to return it.” The two’s eyes widen, it only just occurring to them that it could do that.  Fred rushes off to get it.

“We’ve never seen him on it,” George assures him, “We’d have told you that.”  Remus opens his mouth to respond, then hesitates.

“Ever seen Peter Pettigrew on it?”  George hesitates, then nods slowly.

“Spends most of his time with Ron but…well we’ve never actually met him.” Remus nods.

“Thank you.”  Fred returns, handing the map over, “I’ll give it back as soon as we’ve got him.”

“Professor, can’t we help?” Remus frowns.

“Does Ron have a rat?”  The twins exchange looks before looking to Harry who shrugs, just as confused.

“Yes,” They reply.

“Scabbers,” Harry adds.

“All right, this is going to sound very odd, but I need you to trust me.  Get the rat.  Don’t mention my name or the rat will panic and run.”  The two shrug again and walk up to the boys’ dormitory.

“Um, Uncle…” Remus looks to Harry questioningly, “Well, what you said before, about Uncle Padfoot always having had the capability to escape…does that mean you know how he did it?” Remus looks away guiltily, “And you have all along?” Remus nods slightly, “You said nothing.  Does that mean that you thought there was a chance he was innocent?”

“No Harry, it means I was a coward and you could have died because of it,” He replies honestly, Harry looks to his feet awkwardly, “I am sorry.  I’ve done a piss poor job of being your Uncle.” Harry shakes his head.

“You care about me, that’s more than can be said for my Uncle Vernon.  We make stupid decisions when we’re afraid and when people we care about are involved.  Trust me, I know.  I forgive you.” Remus smiles at him, privately thinking that this kid is way too precious for this world.

“Here you go,” George says, Fred handing the rat to him.  The rat immediately begins trying to get away.  Remus looks closely at the animal, frowning as recognition fills his mind.

“Son of a bitch,” Remus mutters, “Harry, I’m going to Dumbledore to deal with this.  Would you like to come along and tell him everything?” Harry nods, “Thank you both for your help.”  The two leave, the twins watching them go with confusion.

“They’re a weird bunch.”

“Right you are Freddie.”

 

“Headmaster, there’s something I need to tell you,” Remus begins as he and Harry walk in, only to see him speaking with McGonagall.

“I am rather busy at the moment Remus, can we discuss this later?”

“I know how Sirius escaped from Azkaban.”  The rat starts squirming harder in his grip, Remus doesn’t let go.  Dumbledore looks at him in surprise and gestures him to a seat, Harry awkwardly walks in behind him.

“How?” Albus asks, Minerva looking at Remus questioningly as well, Remus cringes.

“When they were sixteen, James, Peter, and Sirius became animagi.” Albus, Harry, and Minerva look at Remus, completely nonplussed.  Then Harry’s eyes widen.

“He’s a big Black Dog, isn’t he?” Remus looks at him in surprise, Harry groans, “I saw him in little whinging, nearly gave me a bloody heart attack, coming out of the bushes as he did.”

“He was that close to you?” McGonagall asks in concern.

“It’s okay, he’s not going to hurt me.”

“Mr Potter –”

“He’s innocent!” Harry insists, Remus sighs.

“Harry’s right.” The other two look at him in shock again, he holds up the rat in his hands, “This is Peter Pettigrew, he’s the one who betrayed Lily and James, he’s the one who killed the muggles, he faked his death and pinned it all on Sirius.” Albus takes the rat from him, walking around the desk and putting it on the floor before casting a spell on him to return him to his original form, and sure enough, there stands Peter Pettigrew.

“Remus!  My old friend!” Remus pulls his wand on him when he makes a break for the door.

“Don’t. Even. Think about it.” Peter cowers away, hands in the air in surrender, Harry feels his blood boiling with rage and can only imagine what it must be like for his Uncle.  His non-traitorous Uncle that is.

“Whatever Sirius told you, Remus, it’s a lie.  I swear it!”

“Sirius hasn’t told me anything, Peter, I don’t even know where he is.  I must say though, I have a hard time understanding why an innocent man would spend twelve years hiding as a rat.”

“As do I,” Albus says, his voice thundering in a way that Harry can feel reverberating through his soul.  It’s not a sound he ever wants to hear again, but it doesn’t seem to phase Remus at all.  Honestly though, what Harry finds even worse, is the look of utter disappointment and contempt on McGonagall’s face.  He sincerely hopes he never earns that look.  Peter whimpers and whines as Dumbledore contacts the Ministry, Remus keeping his wand and his eyes trained on Peter for the entire time, being sure to make Harry stay behind him with Minerva.  Soon after, two Aurors turn up.  Remus recognises Mad-Eye instantly from his voice, but the young woman with him, he doesn’t know.  Her scent seems mildly familiar and, after Moody has Wormtail firmly restrained, Remus finds himself almost unable to take his eyes off of her.

“Uncle Moony?” Harry asks, Remus blinks and looks down at the boy who has a very obvious smirk on his face, Remus ignores him.

“Where’s Black?” Moody asks Remus.

“I haven’t the faintest idea Mad-Eye.” The Auror doesn’t look convinced, “Moody, if I knew where he was, I’d have told someone.”

“Your word on that isn’t meaning too much at the moment.”  Remus scowls.

“I handed Pettigrew over as soon as I found him.”

“You also withheld information on Black’s escape. What if he had been guilty?” The woman asks.

“He wasn’t.”

“Did you know that at the time?” Remus grimaces.

“No.”

“None of this matters, where is he?”

“I really don’t know, but I may be able to find him.”  Remus pulls the parchment from the twins out, opens it, and puts it on Dumbledore’s desk.  Everyone crowds around it.

“Never thought I’d see that again,” Peter murmurs, Remus glares at him.

“I solemnly swear that I am up to no good,” Remus declares while tapping the parchment with his wand.  After it’s been opened and they realise what it is, Dumbledore looks up, unimpressed.

“You have had access to this the entire time?”

“No, I borrowed it off the people who, for all intents and purposes, have inherited it.  Only got it on the condition, that I return it.”

“Where did it come from originally?” The female Auror asks.

“My friends and I made it when we were in Hogwarts.”

“The same friend who became unregistered Animagi at sixteen?” Moody asks, Remus nods, “You made this map?” He nods again, “When?”

“Um…1973,” Remus replies.

“Why couldn’t you all have put this effort into school?” Minerva asks, Remus sighs, Harry snickers, Remus glares at him, he smiles innocently.

“I’m not seeing him on here,” The female Auror states needlessly.

“He’s going to be hiding somewhere, Tonks, it’s probably not in the school.”

“Tonks?!” Peter and Remus both ask at once.

“Yes, that one.  Ted and Andromeda’s kid,” Moody answers, Remus looks at her in surprise, then tilts his head to the side.

“You do have the Black nose.”

“The Black nose?” Tonks asks, self-consciously touching her nose.

“It’s a feature prominent in the Black family.  Both your Aunts, your Mother, your grand-parents, your cousins, all of them have the same nose.”

“Huh.”

“If he’s not in the castle, where will he be?” Minerva asks, looking to Remus who shrugs.

“Come on Uncle Moony, you know him better than anyone.  If he were hiding somewhere, where would it be?  Where would he feel is safe, where no one would go?” Harry asks, everyone watching Remus as he thinks, then Remus’ eyes widen.

“Oh I’m an idiot, the shack,” Remus says.

“The Shrieking Shack?” Harry asks in confusion, but apparently it made sense to McGonagall and Dumbledore.  Peter whimpers slightly.

“Well then, let’s go catch us a fugitive.”

“An _innocent_ fugitive,” Harry corrects, Moody looks to Remus who sighs, sitting Harry down in a chair and kneeling in front of him.

“Harry, innocent or not, he won’t be free until after a trial.  He has to be _found_ innocent first.”

“But he will be, won’t he?”

“If Wormtail confesses, yes.” Remus looks to Peter who curls in on himself with a distressed whine, tears falling from his eyes.

“We’ll get them to use veritaserum on the both of them,” Moody tells him.

“Harry there’s a lot of bias against the Black family.  It doesn’t hold the weight it used to, and even when it did, he was disowned by his family.”

“Why?”

“They weren’t nice people and Sirius refused to go along with that, just like Auror Tonks’ mother, Andy, did.  Now, we’ll do our best, but there may be some people in the Wizengamot who won’t want to find him innocent regardless of the evidence put before them.”

“But that’s not fair!” Harry exclaims, Remus sighs.

“You know as well as we all do, Harry, that life is never fair.” Harry slumps in his seat, “That doesn’t mean we are giving up Harry.  I did that once, I will not do so again.  That, I promise you.” Harry nods.

“Right then, Lupin, Tonks, would you two go and fetch Mr Black for us, Moody and I will keep watch over Mr Pettigrew,” Dumbledore suggests.

“What about me, Sir?” Harry asks.

“Go back to your common room Harry.  I will begin organizing a trial, it will be within a week.  I will allow you to attend should you so choose.”  Harry looks about to protest when Remus gives him a look, Harry sighs, nodding.

Harry trudges back to his common room, escorted by McGonagall because no one trusted him to return and stay there and really, given his history, he couldn’t exactly _refute_ that.

 

“So, you know my mother?” Tonks asks as the two walk out of the school and towards the Whomping Willow.

“Not well but we met a few times.  The last time I saw her was when she told Sirius that she was pregnant.” Tonks nod.

“But you call her Andy, I’ve only ever heard my Dad call her that.”

“Oh that’s only because Sirius called her that and he introduced us so, I suppose the others and I just went with it.  She never minded.”

They walk in silence for a while.

“May I ask, what is your name?” She flushes.

“Dreadful.  My name is dreadful,” She replies, scowling at the ground.

“Nice to meet you Dreadful.” She scoffs.

“That was _such_ a Dad joke,” She says.

“You laughed,” He says, pointing at her still smiling mouth, she shakes her head.

“Out of pity.” He laughs as they reach the tree.

“Immobulus,” Remus casts before walking to the base, “After you.”

“Be still, my heart, for chivalry is not all dead.  First to enter the killer tree I am,” She says dramatically, they both laugh as she climbs down the hole, closely followed by Remus.

“Alas, dramatics are a family trait as well and not exclusive to Sirius.” Tonks snickers, “Come along Dreadful.” Tonks rolls her eyes though doesn’t stop smiling as she walks along beside him.

Eventually they get to the trapdoor to the shack.  They sneak up, looking around before they go upstairs again, that’s when Remus hears the growling and stops Tonks.

“Pads?” 

 


	7. Chapter 7

The growling doesn’t stop, Remus edges towards the room it’s coming from, “Padfoot, it’s Moony.”  The growling stops, a black dog head poking around a door, looking uncertain yet hopeful and also heartbroken, Remus smiles sadly, “I know you’re innocent Pads.  We told Moody, and we captured Pettigrew.  Moody and Albus are planning a trial now to prove you innocent.”  The dog, looks around shiftily, Remus kneels down, opening his arms, “Come here old friend, it’s safe, I promise.  Trust me, trust me as I should have trusted you.”  The dog whimpers slightly before it runs forward, launching itself into Remus’ arms.  Remus chuckles, petting the dog as said dog licks his face, “Ugh, gross, you know I hate it when you do that, no, Padfoot stop it, Sirius!”  the dog steps back, arching his front half down in a playful position, jumping around slightly, Remus sighs, “It’s not time to play, we have to prove you innocent first.” Sirius whimpers, then catches sight of Tonks and growls slightly.

“Don’t worry, I’m only here to help as well,” She promises, the dog looks from Remus to Tonks and back again a few times.

“She’s on our side, Padfoot.”  The dog walks over, sniffing at her slightly, she lets him.  When he nudges her hand with his head, she scratches behind his ears, he leans into it happily, “Come on, we best get up to the castle.  You should probably remain in that form until we get to Dumbledore’s office.”

“How awkward would it be if we somehow managed to get the wrong dog,” Tonks comments, snickering slightly, Remus shakes his head fondly at her.

“It would be positively dreadful.” Tonks glares at him, he laughs as he starts walking back to the tunnel.

“Lupin!  I swear to Merlin, Old Man, you aren’t funny!”

“Oh, old, am I?”

“I’ll stop calling you old when you stop making Dad jokes.” The dog snorts like that’s ever going to happen, “Hah, Padfoot here agrees with me, dontcha boy?” Sirius’ tail wags happily.

“Really Pads?  Ganging up on me?  Unfair.”

 

As they walk through the castle, Tonks and Remus continue bickering with the occasional non-verbal input from Sirius that Remus _always_ understands, they come across Ginny Weasley.

“Professor Moony!” She greets happily.

“Hello Ginny,” He replies, seeming, to her, lighter than she’s ever seen him, if not exactly happier.

“Oh, cute dog!  Is it yours?” She asks, Padfoot walks over to her, she kneels down, petting the dog.

“Yes, his name’s Snuffles.”  Sirius turns and snuffs at him, Ginny chuckles.

“He doesn’t seem fond of his name.”

“What a shame.”

“How come he hasn’t been here before?”

“Uh…”

“I brought him in for a visit,” Tonks tells her, Remus nodding.

“Oh,” Ginny replies, then looks at them both, “Oh!  You two are together then?” The two look awkwardly at each other.

“Yes,” Tonks replies, Remus taking her hand and smiling at Ginny who grins.

“We’re all really glad your boyfriend is teaching here, he’s amazing.”

“That he is,” Tonks replies, completely believably, Remus can see Sirius laughing at them through Padfoot’s eyes.

“Yeah, we all care about him a lot.  I’m quite sure some bad things would happen were anything to ever upset him.  We’re a protective bunch.  Have a nice day Ma’am, Professor, Snuffles.”  With that Ginny walks off.

“Did I just get a shovel talk from one of your students?” Remus sighs, facepalming as he nods.

“Why did you say we were together?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, did you want to explain what’s really happening?”

“Fair point,” Remus concedes as they begin walking again, Remus flicking Sirius’ nose, “I saw the laughter.” Padfoot huffs.

 

“I’ve never known a kid that age to be so frightening, and while petting a dog!” Tonks says as they enter Dumbledore’s office.

“Well she’s got six brothers.  She had to learn to stand up to people far bigger than her pretty early on.  Everyone who messes with her brothers is always going to be older than her after all.  Those Weasleys stick by each other.”

“Black?” Moody asks the dog who barks once in the affirmative, Remus shuts the door behind him before nodding at the man who transforms back into a human.

“Bloody hell, you look like crap Sirius,” Remus can’t help but say.

“Spend twelve years in Azkaban Remus, we’ll see how much beauty sleep _you_ get.”

“What a shame, even your luscious locks didn’t make it out,” Remus says with a sigh.

“Yet still, I’m not the one going grey.”

“Well there’s no doubt it’s him,” Moody drawls, Sirius then hugs Remus who hugs him back.

“It is good to see you again, Sirius,” Albus tells him, Sirius doesn’t seem to know how to deal with that.

“I…thank you, Sir,” He finally says, eyes swimming with unshed tears, “How did you know?” Sirius asks Remus.

“Harry told me.”

“What?” The entire room asks.

“What what?” He asks, internally laughing just because he’s making this unnecessarily difficult for no reason and damn but he’s missed this.

“How did Harry know?”

“Well he was there, why wouldn’t he?”

“How can he remember that?”

“What did you just say?”

“Um, how can he remember that?”

“How did you remember that?”

“What do you mean, I’m the one who said it!”

“And he’s the one who was there.  I don’t really have to explain what a memory is, do I?” Sirius’ face twitches at him, Tonks laughing into her hand.

“He’s right, you are dreadful,” He tells Tonk who laughs harder, Remus smirking too.

“Harry remembers quite a bit of us and his parents.  Mainly me, but only because I’ve been around and triggering memories.  It’s rather remarkable really.  But it’s thanks to the dementors we know you’re innocent.  They brought back the memory of his parents being killed.”

“Oh no, how’s he doing, is he all right?” Sirius asks, Remus nods, placing a calming hand on his shoulder.

“He’s just fine.”

“So, what happens now?” Sirius asks after a few moments of silence.

“Now, we prove you innocent,” Albus declares.

“I’ll have to go back to Azkaban until the trial, won’t I?” Moody shakes his head.

“Not necessarily.  I can have you released into someone’s custody, but not in the school so it can’t be Lupin’s.  Have any other friends?”

“Ones who don’t think I’m an insane murderer and aren’t dead?  No.”

“Maybe no friends, but I know a cousin of yours who would quite happily take you in once she’s been told you’re innocent,” Tonks says with a grin.  Dumbledore activates the floo.

“The home of Andromeda Tonks.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry this took so long, I have a bucket of excuses but most of it boils down to procrastination, laziness, and mild writer's block. Anyways, here's a chapter to ruin anyone's good mood because I'm tired and in a pissy one. Enjoy!

**_Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter_ **

 

“The home of Andromeda Tonks.”

“Albus?” A voice comes from within the floo.

“Mrs Tonks, would you mind stepping through? We have an urgent matter to discuss with you,” Dumbledore tells the woman.

“We?” Dumbledore gestures to Tonks who steps up closer.

“Hi Mum,” She calls, a second later Andromeda Tonks steps out, arms wide already.  Tonks embraces her Mother happily before Andromeda greets Moody and Albus.

“Remus Lupin, as I live and breathe,” She says as she finally turns to him, Remus is confused why she comments on him before Sirius until he notices the dog beside him.

“Andy, hi, how have you been?”

“Oh, you know, every day is an adventure with this one,” She says, throwing an arm around her daughter.

“You think _I’m_ bad, Old Man here keeps calling me dreadful!” Tonks exclaims, Remus looks amused.

“Is this possibly because you keep calling him Old Man?”

“No, I call him that because of his Dad jokes.”

“To which you continue laughing,” Remus can’t help but point out.

“Out of pity, old man, out of pity,” She tells him again, the two smirk at each other before Remus kneels down beside the dog at his feet.

“Padfoot, it’s time.”  The dog whimpers, looking around shiftily, “Yes, I know, it’s a lot more people than you are used to nowadays, but we have no choice Pads.  It’s this, or Azkaban.”  Andromeda turns to ask Moody, he just holds a hand up to stop the question and gestures back to the dog.  When Andromeda looks back, Sirius is standing there.  She screams, tugging her daughter behind her and pointing her wand at Sirius who Remus steps in front of.

“Expelliarmus!” He casts, catching her wand.  Andromeda looks at him in horror and confusion for a moment before he hands the wand back, “Let us explain before you curse him, all right?” She looks between everyone in the room, taking in the heavily restrained Peter, for a moment before nodding.

“All right, fine, explain, quickly.”

Tonks and Remus explain the whole lot, Moody chiming in occasionally when they get off topic for one reason or another, until Andromeda looks to Albus who simply nods once.

“What can I do?” She asks.

“We have a trial in four days, we had hoped you would consent to look after Mr Black until then?” Albus tells him, she worries at her lip.

“Swear to me, Sirius.  Swear to me you really didn’t do it.” Sirius looks her in the eye for the first time, she gasps.  In that moment, she believes it.  His words, they mean nothing anymore, she is already nodding her agreement.

“I swear it Andy.”

“Okay.”

 

After everything is sorted out, at least for that day, Remus goes to the Gryffindor Common Room in search of his nephew.

“Professor!” Fred and George call as he enters the room, Remus smiles at them both, pulling the map from his pocket.

“Returned as promised,” He tells them, handing it over.

“Does that mean you caught him?” They ask, he hesitates for a moment.

“The culprit was caught, yes.  Black has been found and is back where he belongs,” He tells them, they grin at each other, knowing they helped in some small way, then turn to run off, “Oh, do either of you know where Harry is?”

“Only that Ginny upset him…”

“…and he hasn’t let his room since.” Remus frowns, nodding for them to continue on which they do.  He walks towards the stairs to the dorm when Ginny comes sprinting over.

“Professor!  I’m so sorry, I thought he knew, honest,” She tells him, panting slightly from the sudden exertion she’d exuded. 

“I’m sorry?” He asks, she looks around shiftily before pulling him into a corner.

“Look, I know about your…condition,” She tells him, his face freezes, “Don’t worry, it’s fine, it’s not a problem.  You should really put an end to Snape taking over your classes though because I worked it out, I’m pretty sure Hermione did, and others might as well.  Anyway, not the point at the moment.  I sort of assumed Harry knew though and casually mentioned it and now he won’t leave his four-poster.  Hence the whole…really really sorry…thing,” She explains, cringing, “I promise, I will be more careful from now on, no one else will find out because of me.” Remus blinks, face falling as all of her words catch up to him.  What if he’s lost his nephew, his nephew who he only just got back?  Who could blame him, really?  He’s already got one monster for an Uncle, no one can fault him for not wanting another.  Remus supposes he was always going to fail Harry in some way again, it should be of no surprise it was this that did it.

“Thank you for telling me,” He tells Ginny who bites her lip anxiously.  Remus debates what to do for a moment, while a very large part of him wants to leave and never face this, he owes Harry an explanation.  But perhaps he wouldn’t want one, perhaps it really is for the best if he just…

“Don’t even think about it Lupin.” Remus looks up to see Hermione Granger standing at the bottom of the stairs, looking at him with a very unimpressed expression, “Upstairs, now.” Everyone in the common room looks at her in shock.  _Hermione Granger_ is speaking like this to a _Professor_.  Some things just aren’t natural, and this is one of them.  Remus walks after her when she retreats up the stairs, too caught up in his own mind to reprimand her on the blatant show of disrespect, and in front of his students no less.

“Is there a problem Hermione?” He asks her, she glares.

“You were about to run off again.  You promised.” He sighs.

“He knows, he clearly isn’t happy about it, and he’s about to get his God-Father and other Uncle back, one far more suited to…well…everything.  I just thought that –”

“You.  Promised.” He looks up at her, the look on his face softens Hermione’s anger instantly, “You don’t want to face what you assume will be hate from him.  I can understand trying to save yourself pain, especially given how used to it you must be, but Harry isn’t like that.  Have some faith in him, all right?  Besides, your problem here is you don’t think you can be a good Uncle to him.  Prove yourself wrong, go to him now, he needs you.”  Remus looks down the stairs again at his exit before he sighs, nodding slightly and continuing on to the dorm, looking for all the world like a man on his way to a funeral.  One he is sadly sure will be his own.

When he reaches the dorm he knocks on the door but receives no reply, he opens it hesitantly.

“Harry?”

A glass shatters as it is thrown against the door, thankfully it is still mostly closed and he isn’t hit, but he’s fairly certain this has set the tone for the rest of the conversation.

“Can I come in?” He asks hesitantly.  He hears a derisive snort.

“Doesn’t seem like a good idea, every time I let someone in it goes badly.” Remus sighs.

“Harry, listen –”

“Is it true?!” He demands, Remus winces at his Nephew’s tone.

“Harry, I’d rather not have this conversation through a door.”

“IS. IT. TRUE?!” Remus slides down to the ground, back resting against the door, folding in on himself as much as he can and cursing himself for being as weak and childish as he has always been.  Unable to deal with the realities of life, unable to deal with anything.  He’s a monster frightened of monsters, and of humans, and of everything.  He’s pathetic, and weak, and worthless.  It’s not wonder he’s always been alone, no wonder Harry is so angry.  He’s dangerous as a beast and a useless sack of mouldy potatoes as a h…well, when not in beast-form. Remus blinks back the tears, he will not cry, Harry has every right to hate him and he’ll not guilt the boy into doing anything else like he did his friends back in school.  Just look where _that_ got everyone.  No, he’d get through this, Harry and Sirius would be free of him, and none of it will matter anymore.  Everyone will be better off.  They always are without him.

“Yes, Harry, it’s true.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will show the conversation with Ginny and all of Harry's thoughts as well as clear up this end bit so, fear not, this is not quite as out of character as it first appears!


	9. Chapter 9

**_Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter_ **

 

Harry enters the common room feeling both down and elated.  On the one hand, he would soon have his Uncle Padfoot back.  He’ll be found innocent, Harry knows he will.  But on the other hand, he won’t be able to see him until the trial and how is that fair?  They only know he’s innocent thanks to Harry!  Else they may have put an innocent man to death and then where would they all be? Harry sighs and he sits on his bed, looking through his album and moping.

“What’s got you down Prongslet?” Ginny asks as she enters the room without knocking and sits herself down beside Harry on his bed, Harry sighs again.

“Just some stuff with Uncle Moony,” He replies.

“Is he having a bad cycle?” She asks, Harry looks at her in confusion, she smiles, “Don’t fret Mini-Prongs, I know our illustrious Professor Moony is a Werewolf, but I don’t care, and I won’t tell anyone, don’t worry.”

“I’m sorry he’s a what now?”

“A werewolf…you didn’t…?” Harry continues looking on in shock, Ginny’s eyes widen, “Oops.”

“He’s not a Werewolf Ginny, that’s insane!”

“Well, Harry, I’m sorry, but I’m 100% that he is so…I don’t know, maybe you should ask him about it?”

“Ask him about it? _Ask_ him about it?  He’s a Werewolf!  Which I still don’t believe by the way.  But if he is…well…isn’t he dangerous?” Ginny raises an eyebrow at him, the frowns.

“I suppose you wouldn’t know much about them but Muggle stories, would you?” He shakes his head, “We’ve always been taught to be cautious and weary of them, but aside from the full moon they are just people, Harry.  You know your Uncle, would he ever hurt you?” Harry seems pensive.

“No, of course not but…but why wouldn’t he have told me?”

“Are you kidding?  He’s probably ashamed, Werewolves aren’t exactly liked in Wizarding society.” Harry’s brows furrows, she sighs and goes on to explain the general population’s opinion of Werewolves.  By the end, Harry is livid.

“Ginny, would you give me a minute?” Harry asks, Ginny really isn’t sure what in particular he is angry about and so simply nods and leaves the room.

Once he’s alone Harry gets up, pacing the room and glaring at the ground.

By the time there is a knock on the door, Harry’s worked himself into a proper rage.  When the door opens and Remus calls to him, well, he loses his shit.  He grabs a glass of water from Ron’s bedside table and ditches it at the door, Remus quickly shuts it, instead staying on the other side of the closed door.

“Can I come in?” He asks hesitantly.  Harry snorts derisively as he glares at the door, positively shaking in anger.

“Doesn’t seem like a good idea, every time I let someone in it goes badly.” Harry hears Remus sigh but refuses to feel sorry about the resignation causing it.

“Harry, listen –”

“Is it true?!” Harry demands angrily, nose scrunching and fists sporadically clenching and unclenching.

“Harry, I’d rather not have this conversation through a door.”

“IS. IT. TRUE?!” Harry screams, stomping a foot as he does.  It’s a long moment of hesitation later that his Uncle speaks, and when he does Harry hears true despair in his voice.

“Yes, Harry, it’s true.” Harry feels his breath caught in his throat for a moment before his fury returns so strongly the window behind him shatters, he can all but feel his Uncle’s wince.  He breathes heavily for a minute before walking over to the door but not opening it.

“YOU ABANDONED ME, WHY?!”

“I thought I was doing what was best for you.  You must know how Werewolves are thought of, how we’re treated.  That’s not how I wanted you to grow up.”  Harry pulls the door open, his Uncle falling backwards slightly from leaning against it before he turns and stands, closing the door behind him.

“You were really thinking just now that I would be like all the others and hate you for this?” Harry asks him, pain in his voice, Remus looks at the ground, ashamed.

“Harry you don’t know what it’s like –”

“You’re hated and feared for something you can’t control.  You didn’t ask for it, you didn’t want it, but it’s there.  At times you can’t help, it affects you, it changes you.  You aren’t like anyone else, you’re different and you wish more than anything that you weren’t.  They lock you away for ‘the safety of everyone else’ and you let them.  You let them because you can’t help but agree.  After all, something is clearly wrong with you.  You come to Hogwarts and find people who understand, people who care, people who are willing to look beyond your past and just see you.  But they aren’t always there.  You go home and it’s the same thing it has always been, you go out in the world and it is the same thing it has always been.  They attack you, or they would if they could.  Likely they’d kill you if they could.  And until then you are nothing to them but something they can push around endlessly, something that has no choice but to go with it because they control everything and they’ve chosen to set all of it against you.  All because one man did something when you were little, something that can’t ever be taken back, and you lost your childhood, your life.  Tell me, am I getting warm here?” Remus looks at him, flabbergasted and ashamed and terrified and so many other things he can’t hope to name, Harry knows the feeling, “What do you think it was like with the Dursleys for me?”

“Harry…” Remus doesn’t finish his sentence, Harry feels angry tears streaming down his face and wipes them away angrily.

“You left me to protect me, but you left me to the same life you wanted to get me away from, only I was alone when I _could have been with you_!”

“I didn’t know, I couldn’t have known!”

“YOU COULD HAVE!  YOU COULD HAVE IF YOU DIDN’T LEAVE ME!  Now you stand there and think I’ll be just like everyone else? YOU DON’T KNOW THE FIRST THING ABOUT ME!” Remus fights back the sob in his throat, because it’s true, it’s all true.

“I’m sorry,” He says quietly, knowing it will never even be close to enough. Harry stops yelling, the look on his Uncle’s face all too familiar.

“I don’t know how to forgive you,” Harry says as he realises it’s true.  All he knows of Anger is his Uncle Vernon’s way of dealing with things.  He’s never been taught to channel or control his feelings, let alone a safe way to vent them, and especially not how to let them go.  How is he to know how to calm down and accept his Uncle’s apology?  No one has ever been sorry before, all he knows of apologies are the ones he says at home.  Apologies that are ignored in all the worst ways.

“Sometimes forgiveness can’t simply be given, sometimes it needs to be earnt.” Harry looks at his Uncle, tears clouding his vision as he realises his Uncle is guiding him through this as proper family should.  Harry feels his lip quivering, realising he isn’t alone, realising he has someone to teach him, to look after him, to love him. 

“I don’t want to be alone anymore Uncle Moony, but I don’t know how not to be.”  Remus walks over to his nephew, kneeling beside him though Harry isn’t sure when exactly he sank to the floor.  He wraps his arms around his nephew.

“Once upon a time I didn’t either.  But your Dad, he taught me how.  Taught me how just like he taught your Uncle Padfoot.  See, he grew up a lot like you did from what I hear, and it’s thanks to your Dad he turned out like he did.  It’s thanks to both of them that I am even here right now.  I don’t remember how to not be alone, and I think it’s safe to say that Padfoot won’t either, not after so long locked away.  You, Harry, you freed us both from isolation, from prisons of our own creation.  Maybe I can’t teach you how to rely on other people, how to trust them to look after you, but I think maybe it’s something the three of us can learn together.”  Harry nods into his Uncle’s chest, still crying and knowing that his Uncle is as well.

“I love you Uncle Moony.”  Remus smiles, holding him tighter.

“I love you too Harry.”

 

_Meanwhile…_

“Honey!  I’m ho-” Ted trails off as he walks into his living room to see his wife and daughter having tea with Sirius Black, “Wha-?”

“We went to see a man about a dog,” Tonks tells him, Sirius then transforms into Padfoot, Ted drops his briefcase.  Andromeda sighs at her them both before standing up and walking over to her husband, taking his hand gently.

“Dear, there’s something you should know.”


	10. Chapter 10

**_Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter_ **

 

Harry expected to be distracted.  His God-Father’s trial is coming up and no one will tell him anything about where he is or what is going to happen.  Being a bit distracted would be perfectly understandable, only, he is not.  In fact, Harry does not think he has ever been more focused in class.  Even Professor Snape was not calling him a dunderhead, that definitely says something.  He knows he should not let it bother him, but honestly, Harry is nervous.  He wants to do well in school, he wants to be smart and clever like Hermione.  He knows his Mother was incredibly intelligent, so was his Father, what if Uncle Padfoot expects him to be and he falls short?  Will he leave him?  Will he take Moony with him?  Will Harry be alone again?

So, it is not that he is more focused, only more determined.  Harry has never before had more motivation to do well than when facing the possibility of losing his family.

It is Neville that calls him out on it, a day before the trial is to take place.  Well, he says call him out on it.  He straight up dobs him in.

“He’s over there,” Neville says.  Harry looks up from the book he had been studying from to see Professor McGonagall looking at him in concern.  She nods to Longbottom and walks over to Harry.

“Mr Potter, may I join you?” She asks, and really, Harry is supposed to say no to that…how exactly?

“Of course, Professor,” Harry replies, sitting up straighter and gesturing to another seat at his table.  She sits down, interlocking her fingers on top of the table as she regards him silently for a moment.

“Your work ethic has certainly improved lately, I have been incredibly proud of you,” McGonagall tells him, Harry blinks at her, “However it has been suggested that perhaps your recent focus has less to do with a wish to succeed and more to do with a misguided concern that your family is dependant on said success.” Harry’s shoulders slump as he folds in on himself.  McGonagall reaches across the table, laying a hand on his, “Do you know why those who care for us care about how well we do in school, Mr Potter?”

“No one has ever cared about my grades, Professor,” Harry points out, McGonagall gets a look of pity on her face that makes him angry, but he breathes through it like Moony has taught him.

“Molly and Arthur Weasley would disagree with that statement Potter,” She tells him sternly, he flushes, “And so would I.”  Harry’s eyes widen as he looks up at her, her gaze softens, “They care because our futures are often decided by our grades in school and they want us to have the lives we want, they want us to be happy.  They want this because they love us.  And Harry, your Uncles _do_ love you.  Love extends far beyond the letter a Professor gives you for a piece of work that will no doubt be forgotten ten minutes after it has been handed up.” Harry snickers at her description of school assignments as he nods.

“I suppose maybe I was taking it all a bit far.  I only wanted them to be proud of me and then I thought maybe they’ll be disappointed in my potions grade and things just sort of…spiralled…” Harry tells her, she nods understandingly.

“They _are_ proud of you Mr Potter, you have accomplished great things, both inside and outside the classroom.  Most importantly, you are a brilliant person.  Not only are your Uncles proud of you, but I have it on good authority that your parents would be too.” Harry seems confused, “Are you happy, Harry?”  He considers this.  Sure, he has to deal with the Dursleys still, but he has friends and a home here in Hogwarts, not to mention his Uncle Moony.

“Yes Professor.” McGonagall smiles at his honest answer.

“Then you have already fulfilled their greatest wish for you.”  Harry’s face lights up instantly, McGonagall nods to herself as she stands up, “That all being said, your work these past few days truly has been exemplary.  Perhaps not dropping the entire thing completely?” Harry grins cheekily.

“Oh, I don’t know Professor.  I mean, the work will be forgotten ten minutes later anyway…”

“That sentence is _not_ to be repeated to Weasley.”

“Which one?”

“ _Any_.”

Harry’s still chuckling over that when he makes it back to the common room, the book he had been studying from in his arms.  Sure, his Uncles won’t disown him, but a little extra work from his usual abysmal effort won’t be amiss.

 

“All those in favour of declaring Sirius Black innocent of all charges?” Bunch of hands go up, bunch of hands don’t, Harry knows he is not great at Maths, but he knows enough about reading anger in facial expressions to know his Uncle Moony has not counted a good amount of hands.  Then a few more go up and his Uncle sinks into his seat in relief, Harry puts a hand over his mouth to cover his sob of relief, “Sirius Black is pardoned.”

 

Remus requests that Harry wait outside for a moment, Sirius has been under a lot of emotional strain after all and he wants to get a read on his mindset before introducing them.  Harry doesn’t argue, but only because Sirius knows he is there and thus will fight Moony if he has to so that he can see Harry, and this, Harry does not doubt at all.  He also doesn’t doubt that Sirius would win, Moony being a Werewolf or not, nothing would get between Sirius Black and his God-Son.  Harry smiles to himself at that thought, feeling rather safe and protected even though he has not even spoken to the man yet.

“All right, you ready Harry?”

“Yes!  Stop being dramatic Uncle Moony, I want to see him,” Harry tells him, he hears a familiar chuckle before Remus steps out of the doorway, quickly followed by Sirius Black who walks over to Harry.  Harry throws himself at his God-Father who holds him tightly.

“Merlin, I’ve missed you Harry.”

“I missed you too Uncle Padfoot.” Sirius chuckles at the name, holding him tightly.

“Are you doing okay Harry?  I imagine all of this has been rather stressful,” Sirius says, sitting him on a bench and kneeling before him, Harry looks at him like he’s insane.

“You’ve just been declared innocent after twelve years in Azkaban because you’d been falsely accused of murdering your best mate and his wife, and you’re worried about _me_?” Sirius smiles gently at him.

“You’re my nephew and God-Son Harry, I will always worry about you.”  Harry beams at him.

“I love you Uncle Pads.” Sirius smiles, looking Harry in the eyes.  The first person to ever do so without their gaze flickering to his scar even once.  Because Uncle Padfoot doesn’t see his scar, not really.  He sees a boy who is his nephew, and that is all that matters.

“I love you too Harry.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I’d planned to continue this story after PoA, but at this juncture I’m not seeing much point in it.  
> I reckon there’ll be another chapter, maybe two, before I wrap this up unless I get a sudden plot bunny to follow…we shall see.  
> I was hoping to make this chapter lighter since this story was really meant to be an easy and relatively non-angsty read but that failed so, more happiness and fun times next chapter, I promise 


	11. Chapter 11

**_Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter_ **

 

“Harry, calm down, we’ll be there soon,” Hermione reminds him, Harry sighs dejectedly.

“I know that I just…I dunno.”  Hermione puts an arm around his shoulders supportively.

“It’s going to be fine mate,” Ron tells him, Harry takes a breath, nodding.

“Anything from the trolley dears?” Harry looks over.

_“James, we’re back.”_

_“Dada back.”_

_“WHAT THE SHIT?!”_

_“Now that’s some bad language, wouldn’t want Prongslet picking up on that, would you Lils?”_

_“Sirius Orion Black why is there a freaking_ deer _in my living room?!”_

_“Well…um…that’s a bit of a long story.”_

_“Tell it, now.”_

_“…Think it might be time, Mate.”_

_“…”_

_“Dada!”_

_“…James.  Fleamont.  Potter.”_

_“I can explain!”_

Harry blinks, seeing the trolley witch and both his friends watching him in concern.

“Um, no, thank you.”

“Remember something else?” Ron asks, beginning to recognise the look on his mate’s face.  Harry nods slowly.

“My Dad’s Animagus form.”  Hermione looks over excitedly, she’d been particularly interested in that story.  So much so that McGonagall and Remus had spent ten long minutes reminding her that she mustn’t attempt it until she is of age, though McGonagall did offer to help her with it when the time comes.  Her face had lit up as the Professor commented that she had no doubts about Hermione’s ability to succeed.

“Well go on then, what was it?” Ron asks, Harry chuckles.

“A Stag.”

“…wicked.”

“So, end of term thoughts on Uncle Moony?” Harry asks, both he and Hermione looking at Ron.

“I don’t _hate_ him,” Ron begins, Harry’s face falls, Ron smirks, “In fact, he seems like an all right guy.”  Harry grins as Hermione shoves Ron playfully.

“We’re here,” She says a moment later, looking out of the window at the approaching station.

They get off, looking around wildly.  And there, standing by a pillar, everyone giving him a wide berth despite the papers being slathered in his innocence, is Sirius Black.  Harry grins, sprinting over to his Uncle who hugs him tightly when he reaches him.  Ron and Hermione look on, smiles on their faces, endless relief that Remus and Sirius had managed to talk Dumbledore into allowing him to take Harry away from the Dursley’s.  Though, Remus seems to think it was Andromeda putting her foot down about it that really go it done, Harry thinks Remus is just afraid of Tonks’ mother.

“All right Harry?” Sirius asks, Harry chuckles, holding onto his Uncle tightly.

“Yeah, all right.”

“Ah, Harry, there you are dear.”  Harry pulls away from Sirius, turning and smiling brightly.

“Mrs Weasley,” He says happily, accepting the hug she gives him, “Uncle Padfoot, this is Mrs Weasley, my friend Ron’s Mum, she’s brilliant.  Mrs Weasley, this is my God-Father, Sirius Black.” Harry looks nervous at how this would be taken, but Molly merely smiles.

“It’s good to meet you Mr Black, Ginny wrote to me about you.  And Mr Lupin of course, the kid’s are rather fond of him.” Sirius smiles happily.

“He always has been a people person.  It’s wonderful to meet you too.  Harry speaks very highly of you,” He replies, Molly seeming very touched by that.

“Oh, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, George, Fred, this is my Uncle Padfoot.”

“Ah, so these are the infamous Weasley twins,” Sirius says with a smirk, the two look nervous, “Moony’s told me a lot about you two, I’m impressed.” Their faces split into beaming smiles, “It’s good to meet all of you, Harry’s told me a lot about you all over the last few weeks.  I’m glad he’s had people around that have been so good to him.”

“Uncle Padfoot!” Harry complains, Sirius chuckles, ruffing his hair.

“Well, we’d best be off.  Have to make sure Moony hasn’t been poisoned by the house elf.”

“You have a house elf?” Hermione asks, face pinched.

“I imagine he would have inherited it,” Molly jumps in, “The Blacks were a very prominent and very rich family back then, not unlike the Malfoys,” She tells the kids, trying to warn them almost.  It’s not that she thinks Sirius will be anything like Lucius Malfoy, only that he may view things differently because of how he is raised and she doesn’t want them to crucify him for it when a simple conversation could alleviate confusion.

“Right, Uncle Moony said you got disowned because they were all terrible people.”

“They were indeed,” Sirius says, nodding and looking unbothered.

“If you don’t like your family and you got your house elf from them, why don’t you just free him?” Hermione asks lightly, trying to be subtle.  Ron and Harry both sigh.

“Trust me, I would love to.  We’ve never really gotten along, he’s rather horrid.  But House elves like serving people.  Unless they are in a really bad situation, a lot of them won’t want to be freed.  He might not like me, but Kreacher was very fond of my brother and my mother.  To release him would take him from the service of them as well.  It would be like kicking him out of a family he loves very much.”  Hermione frowns but nods, “Besides, job prospects for free house elves are probably rather abysmal.  The world doesn’t make it easy for non-humans to be employed.”

“Do you think _he’s_ doing okay?” Harry asks, not saying Dobby’s name because it always causes the elf to show up.

“I doubt Mr Malfoy has made it easy for him, he did attack him after all.”

“Only because he tried to kill me.”

“He what?” Ron asks.

“Didn’t I ever tell you what spell it was he tried to cast?”

“No,” Hermione says, looking worried, Harry looks around awkwardly.

“Erm, I’ll tell you later.”

“Someone tried to kill you?” Sirius asks in alarm.

“Don’t worry, people try to do that a lot.” Ginny facepalms, “It’s not a big deal, it hasn’t worked yet, has it?”

“That’s not the point Harry!  People can’t just go around trying to kill you!” Sirius tells him, Harry shrugs.

“I’m fine.  Anyway, this house elf saved my life after I tricked his Master into freeing him.  We’re just concerned about what’s happened to him in the months since.”  Sirius frowns.

“Can you get in contact with him?  I could always employ him at the manner.  Of course, then he’d have to deal with Kreacher.  I wonder how many house elves out there don’t have anywhere to go,” Sirius suddenly says, “I should look into that, I might be able to set up some sort of support network or housing or something for them.”  Hermione’s face lights up.

“If you need any help at all with that, let me know,” She tells him strongly, he nods.  Harry and Ron exchange looks and shrug.

“Us too.”

“Maybe it’s not just House elves who could use the help,” Ginny says quietly, the group looks at her.

“Well you said getting a job is hard for all non-humans, right?  What about the other people who can’t get jobs just because they aren’t human?” Sirius frowns, obviously, to those who know the truth, thinking of Remus.

“Remus’ Dad works in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.  I’ll get in touch with him, see what I may be able to do.  Good thinking Miss Weasley,” Sirius tells her, she flushes but seems happy.

“Right, well, we’ll see you around Mr Black.”

“Please, call me Sirius.”

“Molly.”

“Bye Mrs Weasley.”

“Good bye Harry dear, feel free to stop round any time.  Both of you.”

They say good bye to everyone until it’s only Harry and Sirius left.

“Home then Prongslet?” Sirius asks, holding a hand out.  Harry smiles, nodding and taking the offered hand.

“Home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m just feeling the need to explain that the reason Molly is so chill with Sirius is because after hearing about his connection to Harry from Ginny, she wrote to Dumbledore to find out what was going on. Dumbledore said he’s all good and Molly trusts Dumbledore emphatically so at that point she was like ‘mmkay, he is Harry’s family he is my family, hello new son who is probably not much younger than me but he’s skin and bone I must feed him.’


	12. Chapter 12

**_Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter_ **

 

“…so now there’s this drunken stag running around muggle London, no idea where he is or what the hell is going on, panicking out of his mind, when who should appear?” Sirius asks, Harry, the Weasley kids, and Hermione all listen with rapt attention, “But the future Mrs Prongs herself.”

“Of course she did,” Ginny says, all of them laughing at the story.

“What happened?”

“Well, she didn’t know about our Animagi forms yet, all she knew was I was running after a deer and nearly getting hit by cars and such.  Of course I was plastered too, and also freaking the f-f _reak_ out…anyway.  So, Lily’s trying to get me to calm down but Prongs is getting away.  I had to think of something to say and decided to attempt to calmly explain the situation.” Remus snorts.

“Calmly explain the situation?  You screamed in her face ‘My stag is that brother, James is inside, it’s getting away’, and made her think James had been eaten by a deer.” Sirius glares at the traitorous Werewolf, poking his tongue out at him as the kids all laugh at his expense.

“ _Point_ is, the both of us manage to catch Prongs, and by that I mean I yelled ‘Evans is dying’ and he came barrelling over.  She brought us back to her place and introduced me to a muggle phone so that I could call Moony.”

“Right so I get a call at two in the morning, Sirius is talking a mile a minute, intermittently yelling at Prongs to back off because he’s practically climbing on top of Lily in his relief she’s not actually dead and forgetting he’s in stag form.  Lily ends up taking the phone off of him and trying to explain what happened.  Meanwhile Prongs’ antlers are wrecking the place.”

“All the smashing and yelling woke the neighbours who called the Muggle Aurors,” Sirius tells them.

“Police, Sirius, they’re called the police.  You of all people should know that by now.”  Sirius grins at him.

“Lily called Remus again from the station and had him come down, luckily he hadn’t left home yet.  He’s using all of his persuasive charm to attempt to get them to release us and the deer when Prongs finally manages to transform back.  Lily starts hitting me because she was still unclear on whether or not James had been eaten by a Stag, probably unhelped by the distressed looks I kept giving it, and now she understands.”

“Of course, now a bunch of Muggles are trying to work out how the Stag escaped unnoticed and where this fourth teenager came from.  We were all still underage so we couldn’t obliviate them.  We couldn’t call the ministry and get it all handled because James isn’t meant to be an Animagus,” Remus tells them.

“What did you do?” Ron asks, eyes wide.

“What he always does when he panics,” Sirius says amused, Remus rolls his eyes, “He set the station on fire.”

“YOU WHAT?!”

“Merlin’s balls, Moony,” Fred and George comment, both bewildered and in awe of their teacher.  At school everyone still calls him Professor Moony, but outside of it these kids have taken to calling he and Sirius Moony and Padfoot.  All but Hermione, who refuses to call him anything but Professor Moony.

“That is _such_ an exaggeration,” Remus claims, “I set the records room on fire.  Nicked the keys, broke them out, we broke the surveillance system, and got out of there as quickly as we could.”

“How did Mum react to the whole Animagus thing?” Harry questions, Sirius frowns.

“It was odd, actually. James tried to bring it up, she just said she wouldn’t tell anyone.  Sort of nodded at us and continued on.  She and James were dating a week later.”

“So what you’re saying is, Harry only exists because you bet James Potter he couldn’t turn into Prongs while drunk?” Ginny asks, looking amused, Sirius says ‘yes’ as Remus says ‘no’.

“No Padfoot, that’s _not_ the moral of the story.  The moral of the story is don’t do things just because someone thinks you can’t, and don’t listen to your Uncle Padfoot,” Remus tells them, looking specifically at Harry for the last bit, Harry and Ron snicker, Hermione huffs at them.

“Honestly, they exposed magic to muggles and could have died several times throughout that story.”

“Exactly, it was bloody brilliant.”

“Would my parents have gotten together if that didn’t happen?” Harry asks, Sirius seems unsure, Remus chuckles.

“Lily had been planning on asking him out that entire summer.  Had it all planned out.  After the years of chasing her, she wanted to do something bigger than he’d ever done.  Would have been brilliant too until that incident happened and she realised, all of that had been for show.  He wasn’t really that brash and loud, he was a rather gentle person.  In the end, she waited until he asked her to Hogsmeade again, as he had every Hogsmeade weekend since third year, and she said yes.  Never seen him smile so brightly.  So yes, most definitely.”

“Hold on, how do you know she was planning to do that?” Sirius asks, Remus freezes.

“So, um, Sirius.  Something I haven’t mentioned…” Sirius raises an eyebrow, the kids looking amused at the drama unfolding.

“What?”

“You never wondered how it is my number was on the list beside the phone in Lily’s house? Or how she knew it off by heart to call from the station?” Sirius frowns.

“Um, no.”

“We’d been talking frequently since a few months after we both became prefects.”  Sirius’ eyes bulge out of his head.

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I didn’t want to incur the wrath of Prongs.  More importantly, I didn’t want him constantly demanding I say nice things about him like he did every night we had rounds.”

“So she told you she was going to ask James out and you said nothing?”

“I told Minerva,” Remus replies, Sirius laughs.

“She’d have gotten a kick out of that.”

“She started writing up retirement papers so that she didn’t have to witness James destroying the school in excitement and/or nerves.”

“I remember she was coming home with James and I for Christmas in ’77 and he was freaking out the night before, proper hyperventilation, and we ended up having to drag him down to Minnie so she could deal with him,” Sirius says with a laugh, Remus laughing too.

“You were all close with Professor McGonagall?” Hermione asks, looking enchanted with the prospect.

“James loved transfiguration and was the best seeker Hogwarts has ever seen, least until Harry turned up that is,” Sirius tells them, Harry flushes, “They’re Minnie’s two favourite things.  She mother hen’d me a lot during our Hogwarts years so we were close because of that, and she’d always been fond of Remus.  Same sort of way she’s fond of you, Hermione.”  Hermione beams, Remus smiles gently.

“Lunch is ready!” They all look up at Molly’s voice, hurrying into the kitchen of the Burrow for food.  Sirius and Remus stand at a more leisurely pace.  Tonks pushes off of the wall she’d been leaning against to listen in and takes Remus’ hand.  He smiles at her as Sirius makes retching sounds.

“Quit being a prat.”

“Quit getting handsy with my cousin.”

“First cousin once removed.”

“Semantics.”

“Y-hold on. Did you just make a hand pun because she’s holding my hand?” Sirius grins at him, he swats him.  Sirius hits him back.

“Right, both of you, separate sides of the table.  Now,” Molly decides as she walks into the room to fetch them and finds Sirius holding Remus in a headlock while Remus reaches up to pull on his hair. They separate, Remus looking embarrassed and Sirius looking like he doesn’t have a care in the world, the kids laughing at them as they walk in.  Molly and Remus share a look, they both know he’s not as nonchalant as he appears.  Azkaban had changed him, fun times like today are few and far between, and always for the benefit of Harry and his friends.  The fact that he was messing around with Remus, especially when the others weren’t in the room, well that’s the best they’ve seen of him so far.  They’re relieved.

It’s been six months since he was found innocent, there’s a week left of Summer holidays and then Harry’s fourth year begins.

“So, Remus, I believe you had an announcement to make?” Arthur asks after everyone’s finished eating, Remus nods.

“Yes, I do.  I won’t be teaching defence this year.”

“WHAT?!” All the kids say in varying volumes, the twins loudest of all.  They’d taken every lesson with him to attempt to pull one over on him.  It hasn’t worked yet, though he won’t admit they nearly have a few times.

“Moony you-” Hermione begins saying, surprising everyone by the lack of title, a very angry look on her face.

“I know, Hermione.  Don’t worry, I don’t intend to go back on that.  I won’t be teaching defence as a favour to Albus.  There’s someone else that, for reasons I’m not allowed to reveal, he would very much like to have in the school.  Unlike him though, I have the capability to teach another class within the school.”

“What will you be teaching?” Ginny asks.

“Well that’s obvious, isn’t it?” Ginny rolls her eyes.

“Please, enlighten us.”

“History of Magic of course,” Hermione informs them, either oblivious or ignoring Ginny’s attitude.

“Astute observation Hermione, I’m impressed.  How did you work it out?” Remus asks.

“Muuuum, they’re doing it again,” The twins groan.  Sirius raises an eyebrow in confusion to Harry.

“One of them says something clever and they start bouncing off of each other until no one has any idea what they are on about, and then someone will ask and they look like they’re surrounded by baboons trying to work out how to make a wand from a pile of loose splinters.”  Ron nods along with his best mate’s explanation.

“We do not!” Hermione tells them, “You only don’t understand because you stop paying attention.”

“Yes, because we really don’t care how you work out every little thing you work out,” Ginny tells Hermione harshly.

“Ginevra Weasley!  Apologise, now,” Molly tells her daughter who crosses her arm and sulks in her chair.

“Sorry Hermione.” Hermione seems upset but nods.

“All right, now I’m curious.  How did you know which class Uncle Moony’s teaching?” Harry asks, Hermione looks uncertainly around, everyone looking encouraging.

“Well, it’s not potions.  If Professor Snape were going to be fired, it would have been long ago.  He has no family so no familial complication could have transpired, and if he were sick, Padfoot would look far more accomplished at having successfully poisoned him,” Hermione reasons.

“I admit to nothing,” Sirius tells her, she giggles, growing more confident again.

“It’s not Charms because Professor Flitwick has a contract with the school for another four years.  He cannot be fired and were he intending to quit he would have told us last year, the same goes for Professor McGonagall.  Professor Moony hates flying so he hasn’t taken over from Madam Hooch, and he killed a succulent so I really doubt Professor Sprout would let him anywhere near her plants.  It’s not divination because Professor Moony’s not a complete imbisule, nor is it care of magical creatures because…it-um-wouldn’t suit him…nor would Astronomy.  I suppose it _could_ be Ancient Runes or Arithmancy, but I’m quite certain both of those teachers would have written to me to let me know if they were leaving. That leaves History of Magic, which makes sense, because Professor Binns has been looking for a replacement for four and a half years.”

“He has?” Tonks asks, Hermione nods, “How do you know that?”

“Percy told me,” She replies.

“Yes, the Professor mentioned it over tea some time ago,” Percy informs them, “Told me if he was still looking for a replacement when I graduate, he’d be willing to recommend me to Headmaster Dumbledore, however I was uninterested in the job.”

“Wow that’s…actually pretty cool.  I mean, I hate the subject, it’s boring as hell, but that’s still pretty cool,” Ron tells Percy, surprised to be impressed by who he considers to be his most boring brother. Percy seems just as surprised.

“Oh, well, thank you, Ron.”

“Anyway, it helped that a while ago Ron asked Professor McGonagall, Professor Binns, and Professor Dumbledore what Professor Moony was like when he was in school.  Professor Binns said that you were one of his best students, so it makes sense he would be willing to pass the position on to you,” Hermione concludes.

“Why were you asking the other Professors about Uncle Moony?” Harry asks Ron.

“Um…”

“Because I asked him to,” Ginny tells Harry who looks to her in confusion, “I was curious why the Twins love him so much, wanted to find out if he was as much of a troublemaker as they were.  Only the teachers seemed hesitant to give me ideas.  Apparently I’ve been showing signs of mischief lately,” Ginny tells him, Harry chuckles.

“Is that possible because of the paint balloons?”

“In a word, yes.”

“So who’s taking over Defence Against the Dark Arts?” Ron asks, moving the conversation onwards.  Everyone’s really wondering how on Earth Harry’s survived this long if he really just believed Ginny, but they don’t mention it.

“Yes, you didn’t mention who to me either,” Sirius tells him, Remus nods.

“I think I’ll leave it as a surprise for the kids, but do you remember that moment when we told the people about the thing and that person had had that dream with the creature?”

“Wait, really?” Remus nods again, Sirius starts laughing, hard.

“Oh good luck, you’re going to bloody need it,” He tells the kids.

“Language Sirius!” Molly chastises, Sirius calms himself and clears his throat.

“Sorry Molly.  Did you know about this?” He asks Tonks who nods.

“Of course I do, I got told straight away.”

“I honestly can’t tell if you mean by the traitorous Moony who keeps picking you over me, or the person from the thing.”

“And you shall never know,” Tonks replies.

“When have I ever picked her over you?”

“Her?” Tonks asks, looking unimpressed.

“When have I ever picked Dreadful over you?”

“You best watch yourself, Old Man.”  Moony snickers as the rest of the table rolls their eyes at the couple.  They refused to admit they were dating, but they _totally_ are. At least as far as everyone else was concerned.  Mainly because Ginny refuses to allow a good shovel talk to go to waste.

“How about last night when we went to the movies and you made us all sit through that horrid movie when there was a perfectly nice one on that we all could have enjoyed, all because Tonks wanted to?” Tonks rolls her eyes.

“Perfectly nice one?  It was all death and gore.  Need I remind you _again_ that Harry is _fourteen_?”

“I wasn’t going to get scared!” Harry objects. She smiles gently at him.

“That wasn’t that point.”

“Just because –”

“Oh honestly, both of you, I’m not listening to this argument on repeat for the fiftieth time in less than twenty-four hours!” Remus tells them, Tonks and Sirius huff, Harry looks unhappy about being treated like a child again.

“How about this,” Hermione says before leaving the room.  She comes back in five minutes later with a freshly drawn chart, their names written repetitively going down with check boxes beside them, “You go in order of who gets to choose what you watch or do or whatever.  Special allowances for things like birthdays and such.  Since Tonks had last go, it’s starting with Padfoot, then Harry, then Professor Moony, and then Tonks again,” She explains, Remus takes the chart from her, nodding.

“A wise idea, thank you Hermione.”

“Charts…oh I forgot about the charts Moony!” Sirius tells him, laughing.  Remus rolls his eyes.

“Those charts would have worked if you lot didn’t keep altering them,” He tells his friend sternly.  Sirius opens his mouth to respond when there’s a knock at the door, Molly excuses herself to go and answer it.

“Oh, Albus!  Please, come in.”  Everyone at the table looks up in surprise as Dumbledore walks in, Moody right on his heels.

“Alastor?” Remus asks in confusion, the two look a bit out of sorts.  It’s particularly nerve-wracking on Dumbledore.

“Auror Moody, Headmaster, is everything all right?” Harry asks them, Moody claps Harry on the back lightly.

“Everything is quite all right Harry,” Dumbledore tells him.

“Why don’t you and your friends go upstairs for a bit, Potter?” Harry blinks at Moody for a moment, frowning slightly.  A strange exchange seems to go between them before Harry nods.  As soon as he does the other kids move upstairs, as though they had been awaiting his order.  All but Ginny.  Harry sighs, nodding to the twins who pick her up by an arm each and drag her up the stairs kicking and screaming, “Loyal friends young Mr Potter’s got, aren’t they?” Remus catches Harry’s eye as he ascends the stairs.  Harry sends a wary look to Moody and then looks back at Remus who nods slightly.  Something about Moody seems off to Harry, and that’s enough for Remus to be unsettled.

“That they are.  Quite protective of him as well.” The two look at each other for a moment before Moody’s lips quirk.

“Aren’t we all.”  It all seems so Moody like, but Remus refuses to ignore Harry’s wariness and decides to keep an eye on the man until he can speak with Harry.

“You wanted to speak with me?”

“And Sirius,” Albus replies, drawing Remus’ attention away from Moody, though he keeps an eye on him as they both take a seat at the table.

“What’s this about?” Sirius asks with growing trepidation.  Alastor and Albus exchange looks.

“There was an incident in Azkaban yesterday evening,” Albus begins.

“What sort of an incident?”

“And what’s it got to do with us…?”

“I’m afraid that, as of last night, you are not the only person to have successfully escaped Azkaban, Sirius,” Albus tells him.  Remus and Sirius exchange looks, seeing where this is going.

“Peter Pettigrew has escaped.”


	13. Chapter 13

**_Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter_ **

“Sirius no!”

“Remus yes!”

“…”

“Tit for tat.”

“You are both a twit and a twat.”

“…”

“…Is this a bad time?” Remus and Sirius look away from each other to see Harry at the doorway, both plaster smiles onto their faces.

“Never, Harry.”

“What can we do for you?”

“Well, I was wondering if Hermione could stay over here until school comes back?” Harry asks, obviously a little nervous about the question.

“So long as her parents are all right with it,” Sirius replies, “She’s more than welcome.”

“Great, is it okay if I head over there and let her know?”  Harry and Hermione had both been utterly delighted when they had discovered the mansion Sirius had bought for he, Harry, and Remus to live in was literally two blocks away from Hermione’s house.  Her parents had been thrilled as well, they’d been over a few times over the holidays, as Sirius and Remus had been to their place.  Hermione told Harry that her parents think the two are gay, she tried to say otherwise but they think she just hasn’t put two and two together yet.  Harry, of course, found this hilarious and immediately began doing anything he could think of to make it appear even more so.  Just waiting for the moment it comes up and he can watch the two men flounder as they try to deny something he has made so very obvious.  Hermione thinks he’s been spending too much time with the twins.

“Sure, just make sure you are –”

“Back by dark, I know,” Harry replies with a smile.

Once he leaves, Sirius and Remus both high-five because “He asked us for something he wanted!”

“And he only looked mildly petrified!”

It’s certainly been a productive summer.

Sirius is nervous about being alone again when school goes back in three days, Remus is just as nervous about leaving him alone, especially given his latest idea.

“There’s no choice, I have to go after him.”

“You thought that last time and look where it lead?  We’re celebrating the simple act of our nephew requesting to have a friend stay over.” Sirius gives Remus a stony look, Remus doesn’t give in, “Don’t give me that look.  You made your choice back then and everyone suffered for it.  Don’t you _dare_ leave us again!” Sirius flinches slightly, Remus takes a breath and reigns himself in, “Pads, the Ministry will find Peter.  He’s already been found guilty, you’re free.  That whole situation, it has no bearing on our lives, not anymore.  It doesn’t matter, it’s nothing to do with us.  Let them catch the murderer while we finally move on with our lives.”

“You mean you finally move on with my cousin?” Remus blinks at Sirius.

“Padfoot…are you _jealous_?”

“No!  I just don’t see why she has to be here, in _my_ house, all the damned time.” Remus pauses for a moment, there are quite a number of ways he could go with this, most of them continuing this fight.  In the end, he goes with the obvious.

“She’s not here now.”  Sirius glares at him, then he sighs.

“I’m sorry.  I’m not jealous, I’m scared.  I spent so long alone and I don’t want to get left behind again.”  Remus steps forward and hugs him.

“You are never second to her, not to me.  You are my best friend, Sirius.  My family.  I need you here, _Harry_ needs you here.  So promise me you aren’t going to run off the moment we head back to Hogwarts?  Because I have to be honest with you Padfoot, I am _terrified_ that I’m going to get a letter saying you’ve died or disappeared or something and there won’t be anything I can do and I’ll be alone again and Harry will probably end up with the Dursleys again only after finally being free of him they’ll probably be even worse and I can’t let that happen, Sirius _please_ don’t leave me again-” Whatever else may have been said is forgotten as Remus lets out a broken sob, unsure why he suddenly feels like he’s breaking in two.  Things are fine now, everything has worked out, it’s all dealt with.  Why does everything seem worse now than it did before?  Sirius holds him close as Remus cries.

“The full was last night,” Sirius reminds him after he finally calms, answering his unspoken frustration when he just doesn’t know why he’s lost it, “You know that always wreaks havoc on your emotions.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, you’re right.  I’ve run off half-cocked before, we know how that goes.  There’s no need to repeat the lesson.  I promise, I won’t go after Peter, or go running off anywhere.  I’ll focus on my sanctuary and giving mischievous ideas to the twins and helping Harry.”

“What are you going to do when he asks for advice on girls?”

“He’s better off coming to me anyway.”

“You’re gay!”

“Yes, and your idea of a healthy relationship is _with my baby cousin_!”

“We aren’t together.”

“And his Dad’s idea of wooing a girl was to stalk her for seven years.”

“All right, can’t defend that one.”

“And Lily’s idea of romance was shouting at a football match together at the local pub as she tried to explain, yet again, how the bloody game works to James who would forever remain clueless.” Remus chuckles.

“Yes, and yours was the closest alcove.” Sirius laughs, forehead on Remus’ chest.

“Maybe we should get him to speak to Hugo, he can tell him tales about meeting Jean?” Sirius suggests, Remus chuckles.

“Sure, just dump him off to Hermione’s parents and hope for the best.”

“Well she’s come out all right, hasn’t she?  Find me a more put together person than Hermione Granger and I’ll reconsider.  Besides, who else is there?”

“WE’RE BACK!”  Sirius smiles amusedly.

“Get some rest, I’ll go sort feed the kids.”

 

“Hermione!  Long time no see,” Sirius tells her as he walks into the loungeroom, she laughs and gets up, hugging him.

“Hi Padfoot.  How’s Professor Moony feeling?”

“Well he’s mocking me so he must be fine.”

“I think he’d be doing that on his death bed.”

“This is true.  Now, what would you two like for dinner?”  Harry and Hermione both look awkward and a little panic-stricken, but Sirius knew they would. Harry still isn’t great when it comes to food.  He’s not great with not being the one cooking it, not great with being served, not great with not cleaning up everything, not great with having a choice in what is eaten, and not great at eating at a table with the rest of them.  He’s better with most of it because he’s spent so much time with the Weasleys, but having a choice in the food eaten is not something he’s grown comfortable with. 

Hermione just doesn’t want to be rude or a bother by actually making a request, but also knows that Harry _won’t_ which means it’s down to her and that makes her panic.

So Sirius isn’t worried when anxiousness is their first response, but that doesn’t mean he has any idea of what to do about it.  So he does what he’s been doing since Harry moved in at the beginning of the Easter holidays last year.  _What would Mum do?_ ‘Mum’ of course referring to Euphemia Potter and not his own horrid Mother.  _Make it fun_.

“I was thinking maybe we could do homemade pizzas or build your own burgers, something like that?  Get us all in there?”  Hermione subtly gauges Harry’s reaction before giving her own, he seems hesitant.

“Could we do that tomorrow?  Only I don’t think Professor Moony would be able to join that tonight.” Sirius nods, thankful Hermione had worked out the problem, because Sirius had had no idea.  Harry smiles gratefully at her and she nods slightly.

“Good point.”

“Why don’t we ask Uncle Moony what he wants to eat?” Harry suggests, his fall back option is always ‘find out what Uncle Moony wants to do’ because that always seems like the sensible and morally right direction to go in.

“He eats a lot around the full moon, he probably won’t even notice what is put in front of him before he inhales it,” Sirius explains.

“Then we should do something we can make a lot of and is filling, plus it should be healthy.  Has to be good for replacing energy, and he could do with gaining some more weight, so picking foods to help with that around a time where he’ll eat lots of it is probably a good idea,” Hermione tells them.

“What about pasta?” Harry suggests, happy to offer suggestions if it’s for someone else and not himself.

“Moony does love pasta, any preferences?” Sirius asks, the two frown at each other, “Are you both attempting to work out the best pasta dish for Remus’ health?”

“…you need to put weight on too,” Hermione justifies.

“Azkaban did your health no wonders,” Harry adds. Sirius sighs, shaking his head and rubbing at his forehead.

“Well, you aren’t wrong.  I think everyone in this house could do with some carbs in their diet.”  Then Sirius remembers something from years ago, “What about Bolognese with bowtie pasta?” Harry’s eyes widen.

_“Come on Harry, open wide.”_

_“No.”_

_“Darling, he’s not going to eat mushy peas.”_

_“Not if you keep saying that he won’t.”_

_“It’s boring, he’s a Potter, he needs more interesting food.”_

_“Well what would you suggest?”_

_“Oooooh.”_

_“Yes, that’s right Harry, oooh.  This, right here, this is Grandma Potter’s famous Bolognese sauce, always paired with bowtie pasta or it’s just made wrong.”_

_“…fine, but you’re bathing him tonight.”_

Harry can feel his eyes watering, Sirius looks at him in confusion.

“What did you remember?” Hermione asks him.

“Dad telling Mum about Grandma Potter’s Bolognese sauce,” Harry replies, Sirius can’t help but feel astounded.  He’s heard Harry talking about remembering things, but it’s completely unreal to watch it happen like that, especially to have been the one to trigger it.

“You should note that when Prongs said ‘Grandma Potter’s’, he did not mean his Grandma.  We don’t know where it came from, but it’s been in the family for generations.  Doesn’t matter if it’s passed down from female or male member, it’s always been ‘Grandma Potter’s’.  Mum taught James how to cook it when he was a kid, she taught me my first summer over there.  Said every proper Potter has to know.”  Hermione laughs, looking delighted, “Must teach you to make it at some point Harry.” Harry’s eyes widen at that thought, then he beams, running at Sirius and hugging him tightly.

“I love you Uncle Padfoot.”

“I love you too Mini-Prongs.  Right, why don’t you two go off and play and I’ll go make food?”  Harry hesitates for a moment, then he nods.

“Uncle Moony put a telescope in the attic, want to take a look?” Hermione grins, nodding.  The telescope is the single most expensive thing Remus owns.  He bought it back during the first war.  The first thing he ever saved up for and then bought with his own money.  Harry had been shocked when Remus said he was welcome to use, so long as he’s careful with it, it’s quite old now.  It’s for this reason that Harry won’t be offering to show it to Ron, and for that reason that Tonks is not even aware they _have_ an attic.

The two spend a while up there, trying to name the stars.  They got so enthralled with it they even pull out their star maps from Astronomy at school so that they can work out what they are looking at.

When Sirius comes up to collect them he finds Harry calling out degrees and sizes and names to Hermione who is carefully plotting them out on a new map.

“I’m not even surprised.”  Hermione and Harry both flush in embarrassment, but Sirius just smiles encouragingly at them as he walks closer, “May I?” Hermione nods, so he looks over the map, “This is good work.  Do you think we should get this painted somewhere?  I reckon that would look good on a wall.”

“Why not in here?  Make it look like a proper observatory or something?” Harry suggests, Sirius looks around the room, nodding.

“Good thinking.”

“It’s not going to be accurate for long though, things move.” Sirius frowns.

“We start a tradition.  Paint that one up, same size as the map, and put a date by it.  Then every time a kid is born in the family we can do one of what the sky looked like the day/night they were born?” Sirius suggests, the two seem to love that idea, “Brill.  Meanwhile, dinners ready.”  Harry looks at him for a moment and then shakes his head.

“You know, Uncle Padfoot, sometimes I think you’re the coolest person to ever exist, then you go and say ‘Brill’ and I realise that Uncle Moony’s knitted sweaters are less lame than you are.”

“…well damn kid, tell me how you really feel.”  The three laugh as they head down to join Remus and Kreacher at the table for dinner.

 

The next day, something is noticeably wrong with Harry.  Everyone can tell from the moment he enters the room.

“Prongslet?” Sirius asks, Harry looks up questioningly, “Everything all right?”  Harry then notices Remus, Tonks, and Hermione watching him with concern as well and swallows a little harshly, nodding.  He’s not sure when Tonks got here, but she turns up randomly so it’s not a surprise.  For all Sirius complains about it, he gets along really well with her and likes having a non-insane family member around.

“Just had a weird dream.”

“Oh, I had one of those last night.  There was this cat, I ran after it but it was running away from me.  I could only catch a glimpse of it before it was gone out of my vision again.  Finally got a bite on it, turns out I’d been chasing my tail for what felt like hours.”

“That wasn’t a dream, Pads, that was Monday evening.”  Sirius throws a bit of toast at him.

“Mine was less amusing.  It was…well it wasn’t happy.”

“Want to talk about it?” Hermione offers, Harry shrugs as he sits.

“Not much to talk about.  I think it’s just paranoia, honestly.”

“Paranoia?  About what?” Remus questions.

“Oh you know, Pettigrew getting free, Voldemort coming back, him gaining followers and killing people again.  The usual things I fixate on.”

“The last two times you’ve fixated on that you’ve been right,” Hermione comments with a frown.  Sirius and Remus exchange looks, Harry sees this and narrows his eyes.

“What?”

“Harry…we weren’t sure whether or not to tell you.  We don’t want you to be worried or get involved or anything but…Peter escaped from Azkaban.”

“He what?” Harry asks, looking like he just can’t believe it, Hermione puts an arm around him.

“How?” She asks.

“We don’t know.  Obviously he was in a cell that prevented him from transforming into his Animagus form, and to be doubly sure he was in a cell without bars.  All solid stone so that even if he _could_ transform, he’d have nowhere to go,” Tonks tells them.

“But like Padfoot and I agreed, he’s none of our concern, not anymore.  So lets just forget about it all, all right?” Remus suggests, but Sirius frowns.

“What exactly happened in this dream?” Harry frowns too.

“I was in a house, and Wormtail was there.  So was Voldemort but, well he wasn’t exactly human.  He didn’t seem…whole.  Like he was only a part of himself.  There was another man too but, well I’ve never seen him before.  Voldemort was giving him a job to do.  Then they realised they were being watched.  It was my perspective but I wasn’t me.  I was some old Muggle caretaker of the house.  Voldemort killed him with the killing curse.” Sirius blinks at him, Harry just shrugs and digs in to his breakfast, as though such dreams aren’t completely terrifying and ridiculous.

“Do you know where this house was?” Harry frowns as he thinks back.

“No.”

“Anything else at all?”

“Only that…” Harry trails off, looking nervous.

“Only that…?”

“Voldemort told the man to gather their old comrades, to send them a sign.”  The three adults exchange worried looks, “But, I mean…it’s just a dream, it doesn’t mean anything…right?” Remus nods slowly.

“You’re absolutely right Harry.  I think we’re all feeling a bit paranoid at the moment.”  Sirius nods.

“Yes, paranoid.” Hermione grimaces, Harry raises an eyebrow at her, she shakes her head, he gives her an expectant look, she sighs.

“I was just thinking of an old Muggle saying.”

“What old Muggle saying?” Tonks asks, Hermione grimaces again.

“It’s not paranoia if they’re really after you.”

 

Sirius and Remus are nervous, after that, about allowing the two kids to join the Weasleys for the Quidditch World Cup.  But as Sirius points out, Remus is the one who wanted life to go on, and so the kids were allowed to go.

They floo to the Burrow as soon as they hear what happened.

“Harry!” Sirius calls as soon as they get out, Harry rushes over to him, “Hermione?”

“I’m here, I’m fine Padfoot,” She tells him, Sirius nods.  The last thing he wants to do is tell her parents that their daughter had been killed because they didn’t call off this entire idea after all the warning signs.

Sirius tries to ban Harry from going to Hogwarts after that, too afraid something is going to go terribly wrong.  Remus sighs, dragging his old friend off to the side and having a hurried chat with him.  The two minutes they are gone feel like an eternity to the terrified Harry who Molly attempts to console.  But no amount of warm and motherly arms around him could distract him from the growing pit of coldness in his stomach at the thought of not returning to Hogwarts.

Still, they come back and Sirius is looking rather unhappy.  Remus merely nods to Harry who immediately relaxes and flings himself at the both of them, promising to stay out of trouble and behave.

No one thinks that will last long.

 

Remus sits with his fellow teachers as the names of the contestants are called out.  For some reason he can’t identify, he’s on edge right up until Diggory’s name is called.  He lets out a breath of relief, Minerva looks mildly amused.

“Everything all right?” Remus chuckles.

“I had the most ridiculous worry that somehow, this was not going to go according to plan.”

“Well, we shall all be forever glad you are the Professor of History and not Divination.” Remus chuckles again.  Then the Goblet starts flaring up once more, he and McGonagall slowly look up at it.

“…please don’t be Harry,” he whispers to himself.

“Why on Earth would it be Mr Potter?” Minerva asks him, Remus shrugs.

“Because it’s always bloody him.”

“Harry Potter.”

“And there it is.”


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

**_Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter_ **

 

“Harry Potter.”

“And there it is,” Remus mutters, McGonagall honestly doesn’t even look surprised.

“HARRY POTTER!”

“Sir, there’s been a mistake, I didn’t put my name in.  I couldn’t have, I’m underage,” Harry tells Dumbledore after standing but not moving from his place at the table.  Dumbledore looks around for a moment, at a loss for what to do, before apparently deciding this isn’t the place to deal with this.

“Come with me, we shall sort this out in short order, I am sure.” Harry hesitates to follow.

“Mate, _go_ ,” Ron tells him, nudging him forward.  Remus stands, following after Dumbledore and gesturing Harry to follow.  Ron and Hermione exchange looks.

“You don’t think he did it, do you?” Ron asks.

“Of course not Ron, don’t be daft,” Hermione tells him, “Harry’s finally got everything he wants, why would he risk throwing it all away?” Ron nods, accepting the point, “Besides, he’s got enough on his mind.”

“What do you mean?” Hermione looks around, biting her lip.  She casts a quick muffiato spell around the two of them.

“Two weeks ago Harry had this dream…”

 

“Harry, did you put your name in the Goblet of Fire?” Dumbledore asks **_calmly_** , Harry shakes his head.

“No Sir.”

“Obviously he is lying.”

“I am not lying!”

“Well then how did it end up in there?” Madam Maxime asks expectantly, Harry looks around and sees everyone waiting for him to answer.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“Of course I don’t know, I didn’t do it.”

“Surely if someone else were going to put your name in, you would know about it?”

“… _how_?”

“Harry,” Remus says warningly, Harry takes a breath and calms himself.

“I swear to you, I didn’t do this, I don’t know how it happened, but I don’t want anything to do with this competition.  I happen to like being alive far too much to risk it for a quick thrill, fame I already hate having, and money I don’t need.” Remus internally wonders how the hell James and Harry are even related.

“I leave this to you Barty?” Dumbledore asks, Remus takes Harry’s hand as they wait.

“The rules are absolute, the Goblet of Fire constitutes a binding magical contract.  Mr Potter has no choice.  He is, as of tonight, a Triwizard Champion.”

“With all due respect, Mr Crouch, this is ridiculous!” Remus protests.

“Who is this man?”

“Remus Lupin, Harry’s Uncle,” Remus replies.  Barty seems slightly nervous now, Remus is glad about that, “You want to force my _fourteen_ -year-old Nephew to compete in a deadly tournament?  One that is _meant_ to be volunteer only.”

“His name came out of the Goblet, it’s magically binding Mr Lupin, there is nothing anyone can do.”

“Why can’t he just not compete?”

“Because it is _binding_!”

“So _unbind it_!”

This argument continues rather pointlessly for a while, the others chiming in on occasion.

“But Sir, isn’t it unfair to the other schools if Hogwarts has two competitors?” Harry adds after a while, this sets Karkaroff and Maxime off on another tirade, backing the idea of Harry not competing.

“Meester Crouch, zis competeetion iz no place fer a boy,” Fleur tells him, Krum agreeing with her.

“No!  This is enough!  My word goes, and I’ve had my word.  The boy will compete!”  Crouch turns and stalks out of the room, Remus clenching and unclenching his fists in obvious anger before he turns and pulls Harry close to him.

“Are you all right Prongslet?”  Harry feels tears in his eyes.

“I don’t want to die Uncle Moony.”  Remus pulls him close, holding him tightly.

“You won’t Harry.  I’m going to do everything I can to get you through this.”  Harry nods, clutching to his Uncle tightly.

“Ve vill look avter you as beest ve can,” Fleur tells him, putting a hand on his shoulder comfortingly, Cedric nodding along.  Krum nods too.

“Just remember, okay, come last if you have to, I don’t care.  This isn’t your competition.  Your only job is to survive, right?”  Harry frowns at his Uncle.

“Yeah, yeah.  That’s what I do best, isn’t it?  I’m literally known as ‘The Boy Who Lived’, how hard can it be to just keep doing that?” Everyone’s encouraging looks are about as convincing as Harry had sounded.

It’s a grim room indeed.

 

“How did it go?” Hermione asks, the entirety of Gryffindor common room looking over to hear, Harry fiddles with his sleeve nervously.

“Bloody Crouch says I have to compete. Something about binding magic, I don’t know.  Everyone tried to convince him otherwise, I don’t think I’ve ever heard Uncle Moony shout so much but…” Ron claps him on the shoulder.

“It’ll be all right, Mate.  You’ve faced You-Know-Who himself how many times now?” Harry scoffs.

“It’s not _me_ I’m worried about.  Well, it is, I don’t want to do this and am terrified, but can you imagine how Uncle Padfoot might react?  The last thing I want is him back in Azkaban because he went to speak to Crouch and it got out of hand.”

“Professor Moony will calm him down.  We can write to Tonks, ask her to check up on him, and I’ll speak to my parents, ask them to keep an eye on him, all right?” Hermione offers, Harry nods, sinking into the sofa.

“You’re really worried, aren’t you? About the competition, I mean,” Neville asks, Harry frowns at the ground.

“People far better than me die in this competition, what hope does a fourth year have?  I just wanted a quiet year, spend time with Uncle Moony, write to Uncle Padfoot, enjoy the family I’ve always wanted, and now I might just lose them and, you know, everything, for no bloody reason.”

“I just don’t understand how your name ended up in the Goblet.  I mean, someone had to put it there, right?” Ginny asks, everyone agrees, “Well, who hates you _that_ much?”

“Malfoy would, bloody coward,” Ron says.

“He’s too young and the older Slytherins aren’t going to have taken him seriously on this one. Besides, since Sirius’ trial the Ministry has been bending over backwards in apology for him, Malfoy’s not stupid enough to take on someone with that kind of backing, and he’s exactly the type of person to know about it,” Hermione points out.

“It could be…” Dean trails off

“What?” Harry asks, Dean looks awkward.

“Well, when Black first escaped everyone thought he was coming to kill you.  Didn’t Pettigrew escape Azkaban a few weeks ago?”

“Did everyone bloody know about that except me?” Harry asks, Hermione sighs.

“They didn’t want you to worry.”

“And if this had happened without me knowing?  Where would we be?”

“In the exact same position except…oh no…”

“What?” Every Weasley in the room asks.

  
“That conversation we overheard between Padfoot and Professor Moony.  At the end of the summer.  Professor Moony made him promise not to go after Wormtail, sounded like it wasn’t the first time he’d had him say it. You don’t think he might…I mean if he reaches the same conclusion Dean did…” Harry groans.

“I knew I shouldn’t have gotten up this morning.”

“Look just, focus on the tournament, mate.  Let the proper people deal with everything else,” Ron tells him, Harry sighs but nods.

“And no obsessing like usual,” Hermione warns, Harry rolls his eyes.

“That happened twice.”

“And you nearly died both times!  Not again.”

“I think you’ll find I nearly die a lot this year,” Harry reminds her sullenly, a damp moon falls over the room.

“So, you could be super depressed about it all…” Seamus says.

“Or?” Harry asks, Seamus smirks.

“Or you could win.”

 

Two days later Remus is in his office doing marking when his floo activates.

“Remus?” Remus looks over to see Tonks’ face in the fireplace, he smiles warmly.

“Hello Dreadful, what can I do for you?” Tonks’ expression does not morph into the exasperated amusement he was expecting.  Instead, she looks sad and worried.

“I went to check on Sirius like you asked.” Remus frowns, dread pooling in his stomach.

“And?”  Tonks grimaces.

“He’s gone.”


	15. Chapter 15

**_Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter_ **

 

Remus sits at the teacher’s table in the Great Hall, looking moodily at his food.

“You all right Lupin?” Remus looks up at Alastor and nods. 

“Yes, everything’s fine.”  Alastor doesn’t seem convinced but lets it go.  Remus looks out at Harry who is regarding Alastor with the same suspicion he’s always regarded Snape with.  Remus sighs, shaking his head and reaching for his cutlery to eat.

As soon as his hand comes into contact with his fork, he jerks it backwards with a hiss.

“Remus?” Remus looks at McGonagall beside him who watches him with concern.  He looks down at his hand and sees a rather nasty burn.  McGonagall gasps, looking between him and the fork as she realises what happened.

“Silver?” She asks quietly, “But we got rid of all the silverwares when Albus hired you, just in case.” Remus frowns, reaching over slightly and touching hers in a hesitant manner.  Only nothing happens.

“Only mine, it appears.” He and McGonagall share a frown.

“I don’t like what that implies Remus.”  Remus’ brow furrows as he sees Snape looking amused.

“Nor do I.”

 

 

“Dragons, Uncle Moony.  _Dragons_!” Remus looks up blearily as Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Dean, Seamus, and Neville enter the room and take seats on various cupboards, seats, or in Ginny’s case, literally on top of his desk.

“What about them?”

“That’s the first task,” Ron replies, “They’re boody terrifying too.”

“Some Gryffindor you are,” Seamus comments, “Spiders, Dragons, is there anything you aren’t afraid of?”

“Getting detention for punching you in the face, so watch it.” They all snicker about this before looking back at Remus.

“We need to plan a strategy for when you face them,” He tells them.

“Right, I’m not allowed to bring anything in but my wand,” Harry says.

“And he can’t exactly expelliarmus a Dragon, not helpfully anyway,” Ginny says.

“Can too if it’s holding a sword.  The whole point of the spell is to disarm not remove the wand specifically.”

“Why would a Dragon be holding a sword?”

“Well I don’t know, I’m just saying It’s a more useful spell than people give it credit for.”

“Not on a Dragon!”

“Right, you’re strongest point, aside from disarming spells, is flying, correct?” Remus asks, trying to get them back on track.

“Or eating all the treacle tart before anyone else has a chance,” Dean offers.

“The Dragon isn’t going to be hoarding treacle tart, Dean.  Wait…it’s not going to be hoarding Treacle Tart is it?”  Harry asks.

“If it is, that Dragon better watch it’s back.”

“It’s not hoarding treacle tart, can we stay on topic please, it’s sort of an important one,” Remus tells them, they all settle down, “Right, first thing you’re going to want to do is call your broom to you.  We bring it into the stands with us and when you summon it, it will already be close by.”

“Isn’t that cheating?” Hermione asks.

“How so?  The rules state he can’t bring it in to begin with.” Hermione frowns.

“It feels sneaky.”

“Sounds good to me,” Harry states, Hermione pouts but doesn’t protest again.

“All right, you’ve got the broom but you cant just fly around and hope for the best,” Remus tells him.

“I can’t?  That’s what I do in Quidditch.” Everyone falls silent as they look at him.

“Way to ruin that for me,” Seamus complains.

“I forget what Wood says, my memory is shite, all right?  So he just gave up on giving me instructions and now just tells me to ‘do my thing’ and everyone else to ‘not get in the way’.”

“I wonder what Angelina will do,” Hermione wonders aloud.

“If I can’t just fly around, what am I supposed to do?”

“Move with purpose.  There’s going to be something you need to collect-”

“How do you know that?” Dean asks.

“That’s what Dragons do, they hoard, and they guard.  So, it’s going to be protecting something that Harry is supposed to steal.  It’s going to be small because champions need to be able to carry it, and it’s probably shiny as well.  Now, for it to be protected properly it will be in a nest of some kind, and because wizards are all dramatic sons of…um…anyway,” The kids all snicker again, “It’ll probably be a shiny golden egg or something like that. You’re going to have to get past the Dragon and steal it from it’s nest.  They will chain it up so that t can’t escape, so if necessary, you should be able to climb high enough out of reach to view the whole stadium.  Of course, they breathe fire, so don’t stay in one place too long.”

“What do I do once I know where it is?” Harry asks.

“I don’t know, I know nothing about flying.”  They fall silent, then Remus’ eyes light up, “But I know who does.”

 

 

“All right, first rule of flying is, if you can’t do it blind folded, don’t do it at all,” Minerva begins as they gather at the grass area by the castle, since the Quidditch pitch is being excavated.  She’s gotten the Quidditch team here along with any other Gryffindor who had been willing to help.  Neville, Hermione, and Remus are watching from the sidelines.

“Um, Minerva-” Remus begins, looking concerned.

“Do you want my help or not Lupin?”  Remus sighs and sits back down, “What I mean, of course, is that if you aren’t completely confident in your ability to perform a manoeuvre, don’t try.  A mistake could cost you everything,” She continues, “Stick to the basics if you must.  It doesn’t have to be fancy, it just has to work.  Now, Mr Potter.  As a seeker, you must be able to think quickly and move quickly, both traits that will help you in this competition.  But on the pitch your job is to find the snitch and trust that the team has your back in case of bludgers and such.  Now you’re going to have to watch your own back, be aware of your surrounding, and be prepared to abandon a plan and make a new one at a moments notice.” 

“Well this is a comforting speech,” He mutters.

“What was that Potter?”

“Nothing Professor.”

“Good.  Now, we think the target will be a golden egg, but we can’t be sure, as such we’re going to be using something larger so that you are prepared for the worst.  Your job will be to grab it, everyone else will be trying to stop you, however they have to move in the shape of a dragon, otherwise it’s just unrealistic.”

“Minerva-”

“So, I’ve charmed the broomsticks to follow that pattern,” She concludes, ignoring Remus’ doubts, “Miss Weasley, you’re the dragon’s mouth, as such if you wish to breathe fire, simply yell ‘fire’.  Miss Granger has calculated how long it will take for the blaze to hit you should you end up with fastest fire breathing dragon available.  If you don’t get out of range by the time she calls ‘crisp’ we start over.  Is everyone clear?”

“Yes Professor,” They all chant, Remus still looks dubious about this plan and mildly regretful for coming to her in the first place.

“Right then, let’s begin.”

 

Five minutes later…

“Well, I think we can all agree that went terribly,” Minerva states, Harry on the ground and bleeding.

“You think?” Remus asks.

“Well if he hadn’t flown directly into the wing-”

“I didn’t see it, my glasses were knocked off my face!” Harry defends as Neville returns with Pomfrey.  She fixes him up at which point Minerva nods.

“Right, let’s try it again.”

“Minerva!”

“Would you rather he go through all this now where we can help, or out there against an actual bloody dragon?” Minerva asks Remus, the students look at her, scandalised.  Remus sighs, nodding.

“Let’s put a sticking charm on your glasses first,” Remus suggests, Harry nods.

“And an impervious charm, lest they get smashed,” Hermione adds.

 

Eight minutes later…

“CRISP!” Harry sighs as everyone flies back to the ground.  He rubs at his shoulder as Pomfrey walks over to see it.

“Did you fail to see the castle as well?” McGonagall asks.

“Yes, all right, I flew the wrong way.”

“Right into the castle wall,” Seamus reminds him, Harry glares at him.

“Again,” Minerva orders.

 

Fifteen minutes later…

“PULL YOUR ELBOWS IN POTTER, THE BROOM FLIES, YOU DON’T NEED TO FLAP!” Neville and Hermione laugh at him as Minerva continues shouting advice and orders.  Just as he’s about to grab the boulder they’re using as a target, the ‘wing’, being Angelina Johnson, Fred Weasley, and Dean Thomas, hits him and he is thrown off course leading him to spiral almost to the ground.  He manages to pull up at the last moment, “Ah, there’s the Quidditch skill, I was wondering where that had gone,” McGonagall tells him.

“You have really rather foul personality sometimes Professor,” Harry tells her as he continues to evade the dragon.

“All the better to teach you with, Mr Potter.”

 

Twenty minutes later…

“CRISP!” Hermione yells, but Harry’s out of the way, he goes to grab the boulder, dodging out of the way of the tail as it comes at him.

“FIRE!”  Harry swings around to look at the head, but the tail nearly gets him and just as he ducks…

“CRISP!” Hermione yells again.

“GOD DAMMIT!” Harry yells in frustration as they all land.

“There there Potter, I’m reasonably sure you would have survived that one, if a little overdone,” McGonagall tells him, Remus chuckles, wishing James were here to see this.

“You were a bloody nightmare of a Quidditch Captain weren’t you?”

“My team never lost a game,” She replies simply, “Well, once, but that’s because of a dirty foul,” McGonagall reveals with a scowl.

“Right, Slytherin, wasn’t it?  I think I recall you telling James that story when it came down to us or them in ’78.”  She nods, “That was a fun game.”

“You only think that because I made you commentate and you took the opportunity to shout obscenities at the entire school.”

“In my defence, Barty Jr whacked Sirius in the head with his bat, was I supposed to say nothing?”

“My problem was less with that and more you spending a solid minute and a half remarking on Miss McKinnon’s appearance.” Remus looks fond as he chuckles.  Harry sighs, shaking his head.

“In my defence, Marley looked fantastic in Quidditch robes.”

“Yes, and as I recall she was in a relationship with Mr Black at the time?”

“Yep, he agreed with me.” Minerva huffs at him and turns back to the students.

“Right, let’s go again.”

“I love how she says ‘lets’ as though she’s actually joining in,” Harry grumbles as he takes to the sky, Hermione doesn’t think she’s imagining the amused look on McGonagall’s face.

 

Hours later, Remus is in his office, doing the work he should have been doing that afternoon but had instead been making sure Minerva didn’t kill his nephew, when the floo activates and Tonks appears.

“Any news?” He asks, Tonks shakes her head.

“I’m sorry, Old Man.  There’s no sign of him anywhere, nor of Pettigrew.  I’ll keep looking but…” Remus nods.

“Thank you.”  Tonks smiles sadly.

“I’m sure he’ll turn up.”

“Oh I am too, I’m merely questioning if he’ll be alive when he does or if I’ll have the opportunity to kill him myself for breaking his promise.”  Tonks chuckles, nodding.

“I probably shouldn’t say this, an an Auror, but I hope you get your chance to kill him.”  She says goodbye and goes back through the floo, Remus sits in silence for a time before he goes to find his nephew.

 

“Harry?” Remus calls as he walks into the Common Room, Harry looks up, Remus jerks his head for him to follow.

“Uncle Moony?”  Remus hesitates for a moment before taking a deep breath.

“Harry, Sirius has disappeared.” Harry’s eyes widen.

“Oh.”


	16. Chapter 16

**_Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter_ **

 

“Harry?  Are you all right?” Hermione asks, noticing Harry’s just pushing food around his plate instead of eating his breakfast.  Harry, sighs, dropping his fork all together.

“Uncle Padfoot is missing.  Uncle Moony thinks he must have gone after Wormtail.”

“Right, coz that went so well for him last time,” Ron remarks, Hermione shoots him a dirty look as Harry slumps further, “Erm, sorry Mate.”

“Harry, I’m sure he will be fine.”  Harry picks up his fork and continues moving food around his plate just to be doing something.

“He’s going to get himself thrown into Azkaban again, I’ll have to go back to Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon, and Uncle Moony won’t be able to visit and he’ll be homeless again and I won’t be able to see Tonks anymore and I’ll have lost my Uncle Padfoot all over again for the same bloody stupid decision he made once before!” Harry snaps, stabbing his plate with his fork so hard the plate breaks, “Um, oops.”  Ron reaches over and takes the fork off of him as the plate disappears and is replaced.

“Why don’t you just eat some toast or something?”

 

 

Remus walks into his classroom, preparing the room, and his own mental state, to deal with the Weasley twins in his lesson.  Only when he walks in he gasps.  There’s posters of the moon all over the classroom, on one big one covering the blackboard, words are written in red.

_I know what you are_

Remus backs out, slamming the door closed behind him and leaning against it.

“Professor?” Remus looks up to see one of his first-year students, he smiles kindly.

“Emily, would you mind going to find Professor McGonagall for me, please?” He asks calmly, Emily smiles and nods, running off.

 

Five minutes after Emily left, she and Minerva arrive back.

“Remus?”

“Thank you Emily.” 

“You’re welcome, professor.”  The girl skips off down the corridor, then Remus opens the door.  McGonagall gasps as she looks in.

“We’ve got to tell-”

“Albus has enough to deal with thanks to this tournament.  I wouldn’t have eve mentioned it at all if not for the silver cutlery in the middle of the Great Hall.  Not to mention how open this is.  Whoever is behind it clearly does not care if it is seen or not.  Likely they’re hoping it will be, tormenting me as we all wait for the moment it’s found by someone else.”

“Why would someone do that?  _Who_ would do it?”  Remus frowns, surveying the room once more when he notices something.  Underneath his desk, partially hidden by the table leg.

“I think this might just answer both questions,” He replies as he grabs the object and holds it up to her.  A potion’s vial.  Minerva’s eyes widen.

“Severus?”

 

 

“Harry?” Harry looks up from his nest of books to see Hermione and Ron looking at him in concern.

“Yeah?”

“Whaaaaaat are you doing?”

“Research.”

“Into what?”

“Professor Moody.” Ron and Hermione exchange looks.

“…Why?”

“Something’s off.  I’ve met him before, when he was handling Uncle Padfoot’s trial.  Something’s changed, something not good.” Hermione frowns.

“Harry, do you think that maybe you are worrying about Padfoot and-”

“I’m not deflecting Mione.  He’s not who he appears to be.  I’m sure of it.” Ron frowns, Harry huffs, “It’s a pretty particular kind of person who would do what he did in class.  Did you see his face while he was performing the Cruciatus Curse on that spider?  That was manic glee.  The man I met would have taught us about the curses, maybe even performed them, but it would have been a warning, not a game.”  Ron looks pensive as he nods.

“Focus on the tournament, Harry.  Hermione and I will look into this.”  Harry frowns at them.

“Promise to take it seriously?”  Hermione grabs one of his hands.

“Only if you promise to make it through this alive.” Harry smirks.

“With the way McGonagall’s been hounding me, cornering me at random times to quiz me on strategy…if I don’t make it out of this alive I think she’ll bring me back just to insult me about it.”  Hermione chuckles and nods, tears in her eyes betraying her fear.  Harry stands, pulling her into his arms, “Things will work out Hermione, they always do.” Hermione takes a steady breath, remembering something her Dad used to say to her whenever she got too confident about being the smartest person in the room.

“Never count on always.  Things change.  Life is unpredictable.  Don’t assume you will win Harry, make sure you do.”

 

Sirius blinks his eyes open, head pounding as he looks around.  This isn’t his house, hadn’t he just been at home reading the Prophet.

Yes, there had been an article on Harry being a Triwizard Champion, Sirius had spat his tea in shock and had just been about to floo call Remus and yell at him for not coming to tell him when there had been a knock at the door.

Sirius had gone to answer it and…Wormtail.

Sirius glares as he looks around what he now recognises as some kind of cellar.

“Ah, you are awake,” a voice says.  Sirius looks over as a door opens.  Peter walks in carrying what Sirius first thinks is a baby, only to be utteraly horrified when his eyes properly adjust to the light.

“Dear Merlin,” He mutters.

“I apologise for the rough treatment.  It should not be necessary on one of such pure descent.  Alas, life is as unpredictable as ever.” Sirius looks at Voldemort like he’s insane, “I am sure you will be as relieved as I to know that your nephew made it through the first task unscathed.”

“Why would you want Harry to survive?” Sirius asks, observing the mutilated creature with narrowed eyes.

“As with all things, Lord Black, it is part of my plan.”  Voldemort laughs briefly, “Wormtail will be caring for you, I do hope that will not be a problem?  I thought you might appreciate a familiar face.”  With that, Peter carries him out.

“YOU CAN BOTH ROT IN HELL!” Sirius screams at them as the door closes with a clank behind them, “Dammit, DAMMIT!”  Sirius gets up, pacing the cellar as he yanks on his hair.  No one is going to know what happened, given his history they’ll just assume he went after Peter the moment he was left alone.  No one to warn them, no one to warn _Harry_.  This is his job for Merlin’s sake, he’s supposed to protect him, how’s he going to do that from in this blasted cellar?! Sirius takes a deep breath.

He’ll find a way out.

He has to.


	17. Chapter 17

**_Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter._ **

 

“How can you do this?  How can you serve _him_?!” Sirius demands when Peter brings in his food.

“What would be the point in resisting?  He’d kill me.”

“Not if you succeeded!” Sirius tells him, Peter shakes his head.

“No one can stop him, he’s too powerful.”

“Dumbledore is more powerful than Voldemort will ever be.  Besides, he’s weak now, just snap his bloody neck!”

“He won’t be like that for long,” Peter explains before wincing like he perhaps shouldn’t have said that. Sirius frowns.

“What are you talking about, Wormy?” Peter flinches away slightly at the name, “What?  Don’t like the reminder that you were once my friend?” Peter scoffs.

“I was not.  The only person who ever showed up on your radar was James.”

“That’s not true!”

“It is!  Even Harry means next to nothing to you!  Not compared to him!”

“HARRY IS EVERYTHING TO ME!”

“AND WHERE WAS THAT CARE WHEN YOU RAN OFF TO KILL ME INSTEAD OF STAYING AROUND TO LOOK AFTER HIM?!” Peter stops shouting, “You were supposed to look after him.”  Peter shakes himself off, kicking Sirius’ dinner over to him and heading to the door, “Maybe if you had they wouldn’t have assumed you ran off, and help might be coming for you.” Sirius looks mildly horrified as Peter shuts the door.

“YOU DON’T KNOW ANYTHING, YOU’RE NOTHING BUT A TRAITOROUS _RAT_!” Sirius kicks his dinner against a wall, pacing around the cellar and yanking at his hair, shaking his head.  _It’s not true, it’s not true, it wasn’t my fault, it was his it was all his!_

He wishes he could pretend he was trying to convince someone else, but no one else is here.

He’s alone.

 

 

“All right, tell me again?” Remus requests.

“Come seek us where our voices sound,

We cannot sing above the ground,

And while you're searching, ponder this;

We've taken what you'll sorely miss,

An hour long you'll have to look,

And recover what we took,

But past an hour — the prospect's black,

Too late, it's gone, it won't come back,” Harry recites, Remus frowns.

“All right so, obviously the Mer-people in the Black Lake will something you care about and be keeping it under the water.  You’ll have an hour to look, or it’ll be gone forever.”

“How am I supposed to hold my breath for an hour?” Remus waves a hand dismissively.

“That’s the easy part, there’s plenty of things you can use.”

“Like Gillyweed?” Neville asks, Remus nods.

“Could always, um, _borrow_ some from Snape?” Seamus suggests, Remus raises an eyebrow at him.

“ _Professor_ Snape, Seamus.”

“I love how that’s his problem with that,” Ginny comments, even Hermione laughs at that.

“I’ll just order some,” Remus tells them, “It will get here in plenty of time.”

“So if that’s the easy part, what’s the hard part?” Ron asks.

“He has to find whatever it is they’ve taken,” Remus replies.

“That lake is too big to search in an hour,” Dean adds.

“Plus, we don’t know if the merpeople will try to stop you or not,” Hermione reminds Harry.

“Even if they don’t, there’s plenty of other creatures down there that will,” Neville says. Harry purses his lips for a moment, thinking.

“…Do we know everything that _is_ down there?” Harry asks slowly, everyone seems confused.

“We do,” Remus replies.

“Then let’s make a list, we’ll go through different ways I can defend against them, distract them, win their favour, whatever it takes.”

“There’s still the matter of having no idea where to look,” Hermione points out, Harry nods.

“I know, I know, but it’s a start.” 

“All right then,” Remus says, “Your biggest problem will be the Giant Squid-”

“Wait, there’s _actually_ a Giant Squid in the lake?” Ginny asks, Remus nods, “I though Fred and George were just trying to scare me.”

“It’s fine, it doesn’t attack people, but it likes playing.  It just doesn’t understand that people are fragile and also need to breath.”

“How the blasted hell am I supposed to defend against a Giant Squid?” Remus scrunches his nose.

“Don’t take after you Father?”

“What did he do?”

“Flew into it’s tenta…oh…oh that’s it!” Remus says, “Take your broom!  Fly through the water, with your skills you can dodge around whatever comes up, and it’ll give you more speed than those swimming!”

“Do brooms work in water?” Harry asks, Remus shrugs.

“Only one way to find out.”

 

“REMUS LUPIN!” Remus looks down to see McGonagall standing with her hands on her hips at the door to the Great Hall.

“Lunch Break,” Remus announces to Harry who resurfaces from the water.  Hermione unsteadily flies her broom over to him.

“How are we going to drain the water out of here?” Remus smirks, he then breaks a window and sends the water into the sky before fixing the window.

“It’s going to rain later.”  Everyone lands their brooms on the ground before Remus turns to look at Minerva and the students behind her waiting to come in for lunch, “Well you _did_ say I could use the Great Hall to train Harry.”  McGonagall just shakes her head and walks to her seat.

“Are you two trying to annoy each other?” Harry asks Remus who chuckles.

“Well, we weren’t, but what a brilliant idea.”  The students watch as he walks over to the Teacher’s table as well.

“Whoops.”

 

 

“Right,” Ron begins as he and Hermione sit in the Common Room, “I thought we could start by watching what he does,” He suggests, holding up the Marauders’ Map.

“Just watch him?  For how long?” Ron shrugs.

“All night?”

“It _does_ seem like the sort of obsessive and unhealthy thing that Harry would do,” Hermione admits, “And he _does_ tend to find pieces of the puzzle that way.”  They both look at the unopened map for a moment.

“… _Or_ , we could pay Ginny to do it and instead go to sleep?” Ron suggests, Hermione nods.

“I’ll go get her.”  She goes up to the girls’ dorm, Ron thinks it’s a testament to how stressed the whole tournament has left her that she agreed to the idea at all.  She comes back down with Ginny a moment later.

“You stand relieved,” Ginny tells Ron, he smiles, handing the map over.  Ginny sits in a comfy chair in a corner of the room and opens it.

“How’d you get her to agree?” Ron asks Hermione, she smirks deviously.

“Told her Harry asked if she could do it.” Ron laughs, Hermione does too, “Good night Ronald.”

“Night Mione.”

 

Ginny opens the map, looking over it in an attempt to spot Moody.  She finds him in his office with Crouch, Ginny frowns.

“Wonder what they’re talking about.” Then she grins, “Why wonder about what you can know?”

 

Ginny sneaks through the castle, quickly finding her way to the DADA classroom and sneaking up the stairs to the office.  She stands outside, head against the door to listen closely, but hears nothing.  She checks the map again, but both are still inside.  Closing the map, she knocks on the door.

“It’s open,” a gruff voice calls.  Ginny steels herself and opens the door, walking inside calmly, “What can I do for you, Weasley?” Ginny looks around, but finds no one else in the room, “Miss Weasley?” Ginny’s eyes snap to that of her teacher.

“Sorry Sir, I was just wondering…well we were talking earlier about the second task.  Professor Moony wasn’t sure if the merpeople would be trying to stop the Champions saving what’s been taken or not, I was wondering if you knew anything more about them that could tell us?  It is, after all, your area of expertise.  Merpeople _are_ Clasified XXXXX Creatures, are they not?” Ginny asks, Moody clears his throat as he turns to face her.

“XXXX,” he corrects, she nods, though she had already known it, “I’m afraid I don’t know if they’ll work against Potter or not, but I wouldn’t worry.  I presume Lupin’s got a strategy for him?  Heard about the Great Hall flooding.” Ginny smirks, nodding.

“Yeah, he’s got a plan.” Moody nods.

“Then we just have to make sure everything goes according to it.” Ginny smiles.

“Of course.  Thank you, Professor.” 

She leaves, hurrying back to Gryffindor tower and sneaking into the boys’ dormitory, shaking Harry awake.

“Harry!” She whispers, he groans as he lifts his head and blarily blinks at her, “I need to borrow your cloak.”

“’S’in the trunk,” he tells her before flopping back onto the bed.  She searches through his trunk in the dark, finding the cloak and leaving once more.

Checking the map, she finds that both Moody and Crouch are still, supposedly, in the office.  She puts the cloak on and hurries back down, settling into a corner of the DADA classroom to wait.

 

It’s two hours later that she jolts awake at the sound of the door closing.  Looking up, she sees Moody leaving the room, only on the map it says he’s Crouch.  She stays entirely still until he’s out of sight, only then heading up to his office.

Once inside, she takes off the cloak, consulting the map again, and moving until she is apparently standing right in front of Moody.  All she sees is a trunk.  She sighs.

“I’ve come this far.”  She tries to open the trunk, but can’t, “Alohamora!”  it opens, she grins.  It opens up strangely, getting smaller and more boxes come up until it finally stops.  Casting her wand light down, she sees something at the bottom, “Professor Moody?”

“Didn’t your mother ever tell you not to snoop through other people’s things?!” Ginny gasps, spinning around and seeing her Professor before her, he flicks his tongue out, wetting his lips in a rather odd fashion, “I suppose you’ll just had to learn that lesson the _hard_ way.  Expelliarmus!”  He grabs her wand from the air before locking eyes with her once more, she does the only thing she can think of.

“HEL-!”

“STUPEFY!”

And her world goes black.


	18. Chapter 18

**_Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter_ **

 

“Ron?” Ron looks up from his breakfast to see one of Ginny’s classmates, “Have you seen Ginny?  She wasn’t in bed when I woke up and she’s not here either.” Ron frowns.

“She’s running an errand for me,” Ron tells the kid who nods and walks off.  Hermione looks at him in concern, “We need Harry.”

“Brilliant timing then,” Harry says as he sits down, “Have you seen Ginny?  I’ve been looking for her all morning.”

“What’s with everyone and looking for Ginny?”

“She borrowed my cloak last night,” Harry explains, Hermione and Ron exchange concerned looks, “What?”

“Muffiato,” Hermione casts, the noise around them dims, “We had Ginny watching the map last night to keep an eye on Professor Moody, but she was supposed to stay in the common room and just observe,” She explains.

“And instead she took my cloak and likely went to investigate something?” Harry guesses, Hermione nods.

“No one’s seen her this morning.” Harry’s eyes widen.

“Okay so we check the…oh.”

“Yeah, she’s got the map.  _And_ your cloak,” Ron points out.

“What do we do?”

“We have to tell Professor Moony!” Hermione tells him, Ron shakes his head.

“Fred and George spoke to me this morning.  The other day, they were meant to have History of Magic with Remus, but the lesson was cancelled, and the room blocked off.”

“So, they snuck in?” Ron nods.

“You might’ve told me that Moony’s a bloody Werewolf.” Harry winces.

“Sorry Ron, I-wait, how did you…?”

“Someone put a bunch of moons all over the room and threatening writing.  After that, well it was easy for the twins to put together and they told me.  Though, they think I already knew, I swore them to secrecy.”

“Thanks.”

“What’s this got to do with your sister?” Hermione asks.

“I just think it’s a big coincidence that Moony’s being distracted while two people have now disappeared, and Harry’s life is in danger, don’t you think?” Hermione frowns.

“You think it’s all connected?”

“Everything is connected,” Ron tells her, “I don’t think Padfoot ran off, I don’t think Moody is who he says he is, I don’t think Moony’s being targeted because he’s a Werewolf, and I don’t think Harry’s name ended up in that Goblet by chance.”

“If that’s true than whoever Moody really is thinks Professor Moony is a threat, he’ll be watching him closely.”  Ron nods.

“If we go to him about Ginny, not-Moody will know we are on to him and that we sent Ginny to snoop around.  Then we will all be in trouble and there won’t be anyone to find her.”  Hermione nods, Harry frowns.

“Who do the Professors think decorated Uncle Moony’s classroom?”

“Fred and George wondered the same thing.  Went looking to find out.  Apparently, they found a potions vial at the scene.”

“Snape,” Harry mutters.

“That’s what they think too.  Merlin knows he hates Moony enough, but of all the things we’ve accused him of over the years, he’s never done any of it.”

“Ron’s right, it’s too big of a coincidence that Snape does this with everything else that’s going on.  At the very least someone’s convinced him to do it.”

“This is all well and good, but what do we do?” Ron asks, the three fall silent as they think.

“If he’s not Moody, how’s he disguising himself?” Harry questions.

“Well, you’re the one who mentioned him drinking out of that flask frequently.  Maybe it’s Polyjuice potion?” Hermione suggests.

“I thought you said that only lasts an hour.”

“That’s why he’s got to keep drinking it.  Of course, to have that much, he’d need a constant supply of genetic material.” Harry’s eyes widen.

“You mean the real Moody is somewhere nearby?” Hermione nods.

“What’s any of this got to do with Padfoot?” Ron wonders.

“If you’re right and me being in this tournament is part of their plan, then maybe they were trying to ensure Uncle Padfoot didn’t get me out of it.  The Ministry’s bending over backwards trying to make the whole wrongful imprisonment up to him so that he doesn’t sue them or start a revolt that others are sure to follow, so if anyone could, it’s him.”

“And, the only other person who would really try is Remus, who has a bunch of other stuff to deal with now, so they’ve gotten everyone out of the way,” Hermione realises, Harry smirks slightly.

“Not everyone.”

 

 

“Wotcher Harry,” Tonks says as she meets them in the Shrieking Shack.

“Hi Tonks!” Harry greets, hugging her.

“Hermione, Ron, nice to see you both.”

“It’s good to see you too, Tonks.”

“So, what’s this all about?” The trio exchange looks, she sighs, “Who’s trying to kill everyone now and how are you three involved?” Harry gives Tonks a sheepish look.

“You’d better sit down.”

Five minutes later…

“All right so, Moody’s not Moody, Ginny’s been kidnapped, Remus is being threatened, Sirius has been captured, and someone is trying to get you killed?” Tonks recaps, the other three nod, she frowns. 

“What?”

“How’d they know where you guys live?”

“Moody came to the Burrow with Dumbledore, it’s when I noticed something was off about him.  Either Uncle Moony or Uncle Padfoot could have easily mentioned something,” Harry tells her, she nods.

“He’s been here, so he’s obviously not working alone.”

“I think he’s working with Peter Pettigrew,” Hermione says, everyone looks at her in surprise before nodding.

“That makes sense.”

“How did you know something was off with Moody?” Tonks asks, harry grimaces, lightly tracing his scar.

“My scar tingled.” Tonks raises an eyebrow.

“Your scar _tingled_.”

“Don’t mock that, it hurt in first year, turns out you-know-who was around.  It hurt in second year, turns out you-know-who was around, it feels weird now, I’m gonna trust it,” Ron says, “Mate, why didn’t you say anything?”

“I was scared!  It’s connected to Voldemort somehow, so what if it acting up now means he’s around again?”

“You think Moody is you-know-who in disguise?” Hermione asks, Harry shakes his head.

“No, it would hurt a lot more if he were.  I don’t know, but I guess I just hoped if I told Uncle Moony something was wrong with him, maybe someone else could deal with it for once and I could just…” Harry trails off, scratching the back of his neck, unknowingly mirroring his late father’s nervous tick, “It was stupid.  The point is, we need to find out who he is and what he wants.”

“The you-know-who connection _does_ make sense,” Hermione comments, sending Harry a concerned look, “But he’s definitely not nearby or we’d know about it.  But what about your dream?”

“My dream?  Oh, my dream!  I’d forgotten about that.” Hermione huffs, Tonks raises an eyebrow.

“Harry had a dream about Wormtail, you-know-who, and a third, unknown, man.  They were planning something, you-know-who had given the man a task of some kind.” Tonks frowns.

“And you’ve no idea who this other man is?”

“That is generally the meaning of the word ‘unknown’,” Harry replies, Tonks rolls her eyes at him.

“All right, here’s what I want you to do, keep Moody in the dark about as much of the tournament as you can.  _Especially_ anything to do with your involvement,” She tells Harry who nods, “Good.  Now, I have a plan but…it’s completely mad.” The trio exchange looks.

“Just another day ‘round here,” Ron replies.

“In three days, Moody will be gone from the castle.  Search his office, his rooms, his classroom, and anywhere else you can think of.  You may not have long, a few hours at the most, and there may be booby traps around the place so be wary of that.  Try and find Ginny, that’s the priority.”

“What will you be doing?” Hermione asks.

“My job,” Tonks responds, “Whatever you do, don’t tip your hand to any other Professor.  If they’ve gotten one, who knows who else may have been replaced.  _Constant_ vigilance.” The three nod, “Be careful.”

“Be safe.”

 

 

Ginny wakes slowly, head pounding.  She stays as still as she can, eyes closed, feigning sleep as she listens.

“Your breathing changed tempo when you woke, you should work on that.” Ginny internally curses as she opens her eyes, squinting in the limited light.  She finds Moody looking back at her but…something is different.

“You’re Alastor Moody.  The _real_ Alastor Moody.” Moody nods.

“Keen eye you have there.”

“I know the look of someone who wishes to cause pain, and you don’t have it.” He seems intrigued by this answer, she doesn’t elaborate, “How long have you been in here?”

“What’s the date?”

“How long was I unconscious?” Moody smirks slightly.

“Six hours.”

“20th December.”

“Four months in here, five months captured.”  Ginny looks thoughtful before she frowns.

“Dammit, I’m going to miss the Ball,” She groans.

“The ball?”

“The Yule Ball.  Neville asked me to go with him, I was looking forward to that.”

“You’ve been attacked, kidnapped, and are currently being held prisoner in a suitcase, and that’s what you’re worried about?” Ginny shrugs.

“Call it motivation to find a way out of here.”

“If there was a way out of here, I’d have found it by now.”

“Forgive me if I don’t take you at your word and sit around moping.”

“What’s your plan then?” Ginny frowns, getting up and looking around.

“How often does he come back?”

“Once a day.  Brings food and takes some of my hair.”

“Why your hair?”

“Polyjuice potion.”

“What’s that?”

“I’m surprised you don’t know, you seem reasonably intelligent.” Ginny rolls her eyes.

“I’m smart but I’m still thirteen.”

“It allows you to take the shape of another.”

“Who is he really?” She asks after a moment.

“Why do you want to know?”

“I find it helps to know ones enem-” Ginny stops speaking, jaw clenched before she breathes out calmly, “I would think it would help to know more about what we’re up against.” Moody regards her for a moment.

“Barty Crouch Jr.”

“Mr Crouch’s son?” Moody nods, “I didn’t know he had a son.”

“He doesn’t consider him a son anymore.” Ginny frowns.

“What happened?”

“He was a Death Eater.” Ginny’s eyes widen.

“Voldemort, he’s trying to come back again, isn’t he?”

“That’s quite the leap.”

“No, not really, not when you consider all the information.”

“And what information is that?”

“You were taken prisoner either just before or just after Peter Pettigrew escaped Azkaban-”

“Pettigrew escaped?”

“Just before, then.  That’s not a coincidence, which means two different Death Eaters, with no other connection between them, are in on this.  Plus, Barty Jr would have been the one who put Harry’s name in the Goblet of Fire.”

“Potter’s in the tournament?”

“They haven’t done it to kill him, no, the Dark Lord wants that honour for himself, which means, they have another agenda.  A distraction maybe?  A ploy to have Harry even further under the public eye when he takes him out?  Or perhaps they want him to win.  But what _for_? What’s the _point_?”

“Voldemort is dead,” Moody points out, watching the girl suspiciously.  Something about the way she speaks seems off to him. 

“No, he isn’t, not completely.”

“What are you talking about?”  Ginny scrunches up her nose, breathing heavily.

“I don’t _know_ , I can’t _remember_.”

“Remember?” Ginny’s eyes widen and she gasps as she finally finds the information she was looking for, hidden in a recess of her mind.

“Horcruxes.”  They hear the click of a tongue above them and look up to find Moody's face staring back down.

"You really are beginning to be a real pain in my arse, girl."


	19. Chapter 19

**_Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter._ **

“Horcruxes.” They hear the click of a tongue above them and look up to find Moody's face staring back down.

"You really are beginning to be a real pain in my arse, girl,” Barty Jr tells her, Moody curses.

“So much for constant vigilance,” He mutters.  Ginny stands, looking up at Barty Jr defiantly. 

“So tell me clever girl, what’s the rest of the plan?” Ginny tilts her head to the side, then shrugs, sitting back down.

“How am I supposed to know?  I just laid out my guess.” He seems unconvinced.

“Legilimens,” He casts pointing his wand at Ginny, but he’s immediately kicked out of her mind, “How did you do that?”

“My mind will never be open to another,” she replies fiercely.

“Who are you?” Moody asks her, disbelief evident in his voice.

“A tool, one who’s tired of being used.”

“Everyone is a tool in the Dark Lord’s plan.  Soon it will come to fruition and he will be whole once more.” Ginny raises an eyebrow at the Death Eater.

“Um…you realise, of course, that to have a horcrux his soul has to be in pieces, right?  I mean that’s the whole point.  So he won’t be, you know, whole.  Because pieces.”  Barty Jr blinks at her for a moment, she purses her lips, expecting an explosion of some kind.  Moody looks between the two like a spectator in a particularly thrilling game of Quidditch.

“Well that’s all just completely beside the point.  How do you know of a horcrux anyway?”

“I learnt about it.”

“Where?” Barty Jr asks shortly.

“In a diary.” A tormented look fills Ginny’s eye and reminds Moody of the second thing this girl ever said to him _I know the look of someone who wishes to cause pain._ He doesn’t doubt it.

Barty Jr takes a hair sample from Moody and leaves them food.  Only after he is gone does Alastor ask his question.

“Whose diary?” Ginny seems almost…sad.  As though the answer makes her unhappy, as though it could have been different if only she had known him before he was nothing more than a diary entry.  She looks down.

“His name was Tom.”

 

 

“Peter, please.  Help me get out of here,” Sirius pleads.  He’s done the creaming, he’s done the anger, he wishes he could do more of both.  But Harry needs him, if begging Wormtail is what it takes to get back to him, then he will damned well do it.

“Do you really think he is so easily swayed?” Voldemort asks, Sirius glares at the deformed being.

“He joined you, didn’t he?”

“You underestimate your friend if you think all I did was ask.”  Sirius frowns, “Your friend Marlene and her family didn’t die for nothing.” Peter looks away, Sirius shakes his head, looking down.

“This changes nothing.  I’m going to get out of here, I will take both of you down, and whatever spy you have at Hogwarts, there’s no way they get passed Moony.  You won’t ever lay a _hand_ on my God-Son!” Voldemort gives him a cold glare.

“Make your threats all you want.  Soon enough your precious god-son’s blood will run and I will be restored.  When that happens, the first to go will be your beast.”  With that orders Wormtail to carry him out.

“Are you really going to let this happen _again_?” Sirius calls to Peter.  To Sirius’ great surprise, he hesitates. 

Then he walks on.

 

“Tonks,” Barty Jr/Moody says as he arrives in Sirius’ house.

“It’s good to see you again Sir.” He smiles slightly, “I’m sorry to tear you away from Hogwarts, but I need your help.”

“What seems to be the trouble?”

“Sirius, sir.  I don’t think he ran off, I think he was taken.”  Not-Moody’s eyes widen before his features fade back to neutral.

“He has a history-”

“Well that’s the thing sir, he doesn’t.  He has a history of protecting the Potters however he deems best.  _That’s_ why he was their secret keeper, _that’s_ why he switched, _that’s_ why he went after Pettigrew the first time, but it’s also why he wouldn’t have now.  It doesn’t fit,” Tonks tells him.

“What do you think happened then?” She leads him over to the kitchen.

“Kreacher!” Kreacher looks up at her, seeming rather down-trodden.

“What can Kreacher be helping you with Mistress Tonks?” Kreacher asks.

“This is my old mentor, Alastor Moody, would you mind telling him what you saw?” Tonks requests, Kreacher nods.

“Kreacher saw Master Black at Master Black’s desk working on Master Black’s creature sanctuary.  Then Kreacher saw Master Black’s traitor-friend become human again in the study.  Master Black attempted to attack the traitor but failed to stop a stunning spell.  The traitor apparated both away.” Not-Moody narrows his eyes at the house-elf suspiciously.

“Why didn’t you do anything to help?”

“Master had ordered Kreacher to stay out of the study and not interfere with Master Black’s actions no matter what.”

“Why would he order you to do that?” Kreacher looks vaguely annoyed.

“Master Black ordered so after Kreacher complained about the Mud-Muggles in the house for dinner,” Kreacher explains, Not-Moody nods.

“It appears Mr Black may have been abducted after all,” He tells Tonks who nods.

“By Wormtail, yes.”

“You seem to have things under control here Tonks, so why request my presence?” Tonks appears sheepish.

“The minute I hand this over, I’ll either be kicked off the case, or it will become my first solo.  I wanted to make sure I wasn’t about to make a fool of myself,” She admits, Not-Moody puts a hand on her shoulder, she doesn’t flinch.

“You’re doing well, Tonks.” She smiles.

“Thanks Moody.”

 

“All right, come on,” Harry says when they see Moody leave.  Harry, Hermione, and Ron split up.  Harry searches his office, Ron the classroom, and Hermione Moody’s bedroom.

Searching his office does turn up the needed supplies for Polyjuice potion, which Harry is thankful for.  He gets pictures of it all but touches none of it, as Tonks had instructed should they find evidence.  He doesn’t find anything else obvious, but isn’t quite ready to give up.  Tonks had guaranteed keeping Moody away for a few hours.

A few minutes later, Hermione and Ron come running in.

“I FOUND THE MAP!” Hermione all but screams, “They’re in here!”

“Where?”  Harry asks, Hermione looks down at the map, moving until they should be right in front of her.  She looks up and sees only a trunk.

“Two people couldn’t possibly fit in there,” Ron says.

“Not alive,” Harry says, earning two reproachful looks, “Sorry.”

“Alohamora!” Hermione casts before opening the trunk and looking down.

“Harry!” Ginny calls from the bottom, Harry beams at her.

“All right there Gin?  Professor Moody?”

“We’re fine kid,” Moody replies, “Where’s the other me?”

“Tonks is distracting him,” Hermione replies.

“And trying to find Sirius,” Ron adds as Harry looks around for a ladder or something to get them.

“Sirius?  He ran off after Pettigrew, didn’t he?”

“Actually, we think he might have been captured by them,” Hermione explains.

“Do you know where?” Moody asks, Ron shakes his head, “Then you have to leave us here.”

“I’m sorry- _What_?” Harry asks, abandoning his search to look down at the two incredulously.

“He’s right Harry, if you takes us out before you find Sirius, they’ll kill him and destroy any evidence of anything.  We need proof, else he’ll come back and no one will believe us.”  No one mistook her words for anything other than a warning.

“Voldemort’s going to come back then?” Harry asks.

“He’s trying,” Moody replies, Harry nods, “You being in the tournament is connected to it somehow.  Be _careful_ Potter.”

“Don’t go anywhere alone.  Not _anywhere_.”  Harry nods.

“Will you two be all right?” Hermione asks, still not liking the idea of leaving them.

“So long as, Gin, was it?” Moody asks, Ginny nods, suddenly realising she never told him her name.

“Gin or Ginny.”

“So long as Gin doesn’t keep angering Crouch, it won’t be a problem.” Ginny flushes.

“I didn’t _mean_ to.” Moody huffs.

“Crouch?” Harry asks.

“Barty Crouch Jr, that’s who is imitating Moody,” Ginny explains.

“But he’s dead,” Harry says confusion clear on his face.

“Who is he?” Hermione asks, having never heard of him and wondering how Harry knows him.

“Mr Crouch’s son, he was a Death Eater in the war.  He went to Azkaban after Karkaroff gave his name to Mr Crouch.  He died, supposedly, a year ago,” Harry explains.

“How do you know that?” Ginny asks.

“Dumbledore’s memories. It’s a long story.  Well, it’s not.  I stuck my head in a pensieve and that was in it.”

“What’s a pensieve?” Ron asks.

“Not 100% sure on that.  It was a glowing bowl thing and it showed a memory, that’s all I know.”

“You stuck your head in a glowing bowl without knowing what it is or what would happen?” Moody asks, Harry looks sheepish.

“Please don’t tell my Uncle Moony about that, I’ll get that disappointed look from him.”

“He’ll be back soon, we need to go,” Hermione reminds everyone.

“Ginny-” Ron starts to say.

“Don’t worry Ron, I’ll be fine.  I promise.” Ron nods.

“We’ll find proof, we’ll find Sirius, and then we’ll free you.”  The siblings nod to each other before the trunk closes once more.

 

Remus is not happy. 

He and Minerva are sat in her office attempting to work out who keeps threatening him.  He’d awoken to a note, stabbed into his door with a silver knife, detailing the names of every Wizengamot member with a prejudice against Werewolves.  It was a long list.

“At least we know it is not Severus,” Remus says, Minerva looks at him in confusion, “He’d never put this much effort into playing with his prey.  He knows better than to waste time, he’d go straight for the kill.”

“Then who _is_ doing it?” Minerva asks him, Remus sighs.

“I really don’t know.  But if it doesn’t stop…” Remus trails off.

“It becomes a very serious safety issue.  For you and the students,” Minerva concludes, Remus nods unhappily, “Give it another month.  If things continue to escalate…” Minerva sighs, not wanting to say it.  Remus does it for her.

“I’ll have no choice but to leave the school.”


	20. Chapter 20

**_Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter_ **

“There you are,” the Patil twins say as Ron and Harry arrive outside the ballroom.  Harry blinks, awkwardly nodding, still unable to believe this is all going ahead despite a student going missing two and a half weeks earlier.  No one seems to question Ginny’s absence much.  Sufficed to say Harry’s been in a pretty shitty mood lately.  Ron, Hermione, the twins, they have been upset and worried, yes.  But Harry?  He believes Ginny will be fine, she’s tough, she’s been through worse, she’ll get through.  But he’s bloody pissed that no one cares about her being missing?  How can everyone come and party while she sits at the bottom of a suitcase, all but forgotten by most of the population of Hogwarts?

“Don’t you look…dashing…” Padma awkwardly tells Ron who scowls lightly.

“Oh, there you are Jam-” McGonagall cuts herself off as Harry stares at her in shock, “My apologies Mr Potter, you just…those robes…” McGonagall looks away, Harry looks to Ron who seems just as surprised and confused.  He doesn’t pay much attention to the rest of the conversation, or the rest of the night, though he does remember both Cho and Hermione looking ridiculously beautiful.

He bails before the end of the ball.  The full moon is tomorrow, so his Uncle Moony decided to give the entire affair a miss.  Harry goes to his office, hoping to find him grading papers.  On his way he wonders if his parents would have attended the ball together were it to have been around then.  Though, from what his Uncle Padfoot and Uncle Moony have said, he doubts it.  _Mum probably would have gone with Snape,_ Harry thinks, screwing his nose up.

Perhaps it’s a very good thing the tournament had gone out of practice.

 

When Harry gets to his Uncle’s office, he finds a man standing over the desk.  A man who is not his Uncle.

“Professor Moody, what are you doing here?”  Moody turns around, allowing Harry to see the banner of a Werewolf in his arms.  Looking around, Harry can see writing all over the walls and the desk has been transfigured to silver.  Harry looks at Moody again, eyes-wide.  Somehow, for half a second after seeing him, Harry had forgotten it’s really a Death Eater in disguise.  He gulps as not-Moody shakes his head.

“The girl I could hide away, no problem.  Don’t have that option with you,” he mutters, licking his lips in a way that strikes Harry as odd, then suddenly, a wand is being pointed at him, “Obliviate.”

 

 

Harry blinks awake, head pounding, to see Hermione hovering over him.

“’mione?”

“Harry, you’re awake!” He grabs the glasses she passes to him.

“Thanks.  What happened?” Hermione frowns.

“We were hoping you could tell us,” She replies.  Harry looks around to see Ron, not-Moody, McGonagall, and Madam Pomfrey surrounding him.

“What’s the last thing you remember, Mr Potter?” McGonagall asks, Harry frowns as he tries to remember.

“Professor Dumbledore was telling us about the tournament thingy, said there were some schools coming to stay for it or something.  To be honest, Professor, I wasn’t paying all that much attention,” Harry replies.  Pomfrey rushes over, running several diagnostic scans as Harry sits in confused silence.  He knows from _vast_ experience that it’s far better to just let her do her thing and _then_ question.

“Poppy?” McGonagall asks, Pomfrey steps back, sighing.

“A memory charm, Minerva.”

“Can it be removed?”

“Removed?  No.”

“Then what _can_ be done?”

“It may be possible to restore the memories, but it will take some time,” The Matron explains, McGonagall frowns.

“How much time?”

“More than we’ve got before the second task.  Even if I were to work on Mr Potter without break, it would still take a fortnight at the least.”

“Will someone please tell me what is going on?!” Harry requests, quite annoyed.  Everyone exchanges looks, Hermione looks at her professor questioningly, McGonagall nods.

“Harry, that tournament Dumbledore was talking about,” Hermione begins, Harry nods, “Someone entered you into it.”

“…I don’t want to be in it,” He states plainly, McGonagall looks away, cursing herself for being so attached to her students.

“Yes, you said so at the time,” McGonagall tells him, now meeting his eyes, “Unfortunately we no longer had a choice.  Once your name was called, a magically binding contract was created.  Remus tried to make it otherwise but…there was nothing any of us could do.  You have since completed one of the three tasks and attended the Yule ball.”

“How did I do?” Harry asks curiously, Ron chuckles.

“Bloody brilliantly.  Stole a golden egg from a Dragon’s nest and got the clue for the second task,” He tells him, Harry looks at him incredulously, “Professor McGonagall helped get your ready for that, shame you’ve forgotten that at the very least.”  McGonagall huffs, Ron snickers and Hermione seems amused.

“Riiiiiight…wait, did you say something about a Yule ball?” McGonagall nods, “What’s the date?” Hermione sighs.

“25th of December, Harry.” Harry’s eyes widen.

“Bloody Merry Christmas, this is.  Where’s Uncle Moony?” Everyone looks very sad very suddenly, Harry furrows his brows as he looks at them all, concern clear on his face.

“He’s taken a leave of absence.  Promises to return as soon as possible and assures you that he will be here for the final task but, for reasons he did _not_ feel inclined to _share_ …he’s had to leave the school for a while,” Hermione tells him, Harry stares at her for a moment before he looks away, fiddling with his hand.

“Anything else I should know?”

“Padfoot and Ginny are both missing, the next task is in two months.  Professor Moony was preparing you for what you may face.  He gave me the notes he’d made on the subject so, as soon as you are out of here, I’m putting you through endless drills to get you ready.” 

“Padfoot and Ginny?  What sort of missing, do we know if they are okay?”

“We are fairly certain that as of this moment both are alive…”

“She’s just gone thirteen, what’s she got to do with anything?” Harry asks desperately, Ron gives Harry a significant look, silently telling him to question it later.  Harry clears his throat and nods.  Then he frowns as something else occurs to him.

“Hermione, how serious is it?  This tournament?” Hermione looks down, it’s Ron that answers.

“People die in it Harry.  We won’t let you be one of them.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, good news! Next chapter is written and I know exactly what happens after that all the way up to the ending. Know what that means? It means that the last few chapters will churn out rapidly and, given that I have only one class to attend tomorrow, the story should be completed (Writing wise) by the end of the week. So chapters will be uploaded daily from here on out!
> 
> Also, sorry this chapter is literally only Harry’s perspective, it wasn’t originally going to be but things got changed and ideas formed and it happened.
> 
> Anyways, I’m super excited for the next few chapters and wrapping all this up. It’s going to be great!
> 
> Hope you all enjoyed this one!


	21. Chapter 21

**_Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter._ **

 

“No, no.  Scissors cuts paper, paper covers rock, and rock smashes scissors.”

“What does it matter if paper covers rock?  It can still reduce it to dust.”  Ginny sighs at Moody.

“Because you come out on top.” Moody looks at Ginny, trying to work out if she’s kidding or not.

“We’ve spent too much time down here together.” Ginny chuckles, nodding.  The lid above them opens and they both look up, blinking in the sudden light.

“It’s your lucky day, girl.  The Dark Lord has requested an audience.” Ginny looks at Barty Jr.

“Today doesn’t really work for me, can we reschedule?”

“Stupefy.”

 

Ginny wakes up to see a small deformed _thing_ in a chair before her, she frowns.  The thing looks her in the eyes, they are devoid of… _anything_.  She knows she has never met this thing before.

“Miss Weasley is it?” The thing croaks, Ginny rises to her knees, “You shall be pleased to know Mr Potter succeeded in the second task.”

“Who are you?” She asks because she is too polite to say ‘what’.

“I am surprised you do not know.  After all, from what I hear, you _have_ read my diary.”  Ginny gasps, a pained look on her face.

“Tom?” The thing snarls.

“DO NOT CALL ME THAT!”

“I WILL CALL YOU WHAT I LIKE!” She screams back, feelings she’d long ago buried making their presence known once more.

“What is it the diary told you?” She scowls at him, never looking away from his soulless pits that should have been eyes but now fail to see anything beyond his lust for power.  She scoffs.

“Very little.  It’s a horcrux, a part of your soul.  It would never have revealed something you would not have.”

“Then how do you know of its true nature.”

“Because as it invaded my mind, I invaded its.” The thing’s eyes widen.

“That’s not possible.”

“Evidently it is.  I have seen into your soul Tom.  I felt sorry for you.” Its scowl deepens, “I felt sorry for you because I could see the potential you had.  Potential to be better, to do good.  I saw you lose that potential, saw you lose yourself.  Now look at you…” Ginny comments dryly, “You are nothing but a mutated creature clinging desperately to a life long gone, a throne long since burned.  You will never have the power you once did, Tom.  I won’t let you.” Thing shook as it pulled itself to sit upright.

“And what makes you think you pose any danger to me?  You will not even be making it out of here alive.” Ginny raises her chin in defiance.

“Kill me.  It won’t change anything.  All it will do is reveal your resurrection and ensure a vast majority of people are against you.”

“They will not know what happened.”

“ _Everyone_ will know what happened.” The thing looks her over.

“What have you done?  What contingencies do you have in place?” Ginny looks him in the eyes again, knowing who he is and still finding nothing within them.

“I cared for you once, Tom.  Even knowing who you were, even knowing what you were making me do, because I could _see_ the man behind the monster.”  She shakes her head, “There is no man anymore, and I will never aid the monster.”

“Wormtail!”

“Yes, Master?” A stout little man asks as he kneels before the creature.

“Find out what the girl has done,” He orders, Pettigrew nods, face ashen as he looks to Ginny, wand pointed at her.

“Go on then, coward.  Torture a child.  If anyone deserves having to live with the memory of that, it’s _you_.”  Peter locks eyes with her, she sees a flicker of regret, all he sees is righteous anger.  Directed at and deserved by him.

“Crucio.”

 

 

Harry gasps as he wakes up, covered in sweat.  He rushes over to Ron’s bed, shaking him awake.

“Harry?  What’s going on?” Ron asks blearily.

“They’ve got her!”

“Who’s got who?” Ron asks, brain still half asleep, Harry slaps him and suddenly he is _wide_ awake, “What the hell, mate?”

“ _Voldemort has Ginny_!”

“Oh…”

“Come on we have to tell a teacher!”

“Wait, we can’t!” Harry looks at Ron like he’s insane.

“What are you _talking_ about?  He’s _torturing_ her!”

“If we tell the wrong person she’s as good as dead and we along with her, who saves her then?”

“Then what do we do?” Harry asks, hating that there is so much he doesn’t know, Ron looks around helplessly, clearly freaking out.

“I’ve got an idea, but it’s a bit over the top.”

“Brilliant.”

 

 

Sirius sits in his cell, hearing screams of a girl and wondering who the unlucky sod is.

Voldemort isn’t strong enough to wield a wand right now, which means Peter must be the one doing it.

Sirius thinks he might be sick.

How could the caring boy he had once known have grown into this?  Were he and James really such bad friends that Peter would turn on both of them as he had?  Was Moony so unimportant to him that he would leave him so entirely alone?  Had his own nephew meant so little that he’d have attempted to help _kill_ him, all to save his own life?

How had Sirius missed it? 

Sirius looks miserably at the floor.  He hates it, hates him, hates the situation, hates himself.  More than anything, though, he hates that someone _did_ notice.

He’ll never forget the day he sent Severus to Remus on the full moon, it will always be one of his biggest regrets.  He will also never forget the things Severus had said to him just before the incident, one of them was that Peter was a coward and would turn on all of them to save himself.

Sirius had defended Peter, truly believed that his friend would never do so, what friend would?  Even as he betrayed Moony.  And then, years later, it was Moony he suspected.  Moony he thought had betrayed them, and why?  Because Peter had mentioned a few things here and there?  Because Moony had done work for the Order that he couldn’t talk about?  So had all of them.

What was it that allowed Sirius to believe Moony capable of such a thing, yet Peter, the true perpetrator, had never been anything but innocent in Sirius’ eyes?

He knows that reason, of course.  Sirius’ ridiculous teenaged-crush on the dimply little boy had blinded him to Peter’s true nature, his true cowardice.  He had thought him so innocent, so compassionate, so incredibly unblemished.  Everything Sirius could never be.

To suspect Peter would have been to break that façade, and it was one Sirius had built the new version of himself, the one that didn’t follow his parents, around.  And when it finally crumbled, the other half of his foundation, his chosen brother, was dead.

Peter is right, Sirius did fail Harry that day, and as such had failed James and Lily too.  He’s not the one who dealt with the consequences of that.  No, he dealt with the consequences of Peter’s actions, but not his own.  Those were dolled out to innocent little Harry, the Boy Who Lived, and Moony, The Man Who Was Left Behind.

The screams stop upstairs, somehow the silence seems louder.


	22. Chapter 22

**_Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter._ **

 

Albus is sitting in his office, wondering when exactly things got so out of hand.  Two people are missing, Harry’s in this tournament and has been attacked, and Lupin has taken a leave of absence.  When he and Minerva had come to him and explained everything they had neglected to inform him of before, he was understandably irate, though he cannot deny they had a point.  He is feeling rather overworked these days.

So when the door to his office opens and closes without a person in sight, he wonders if it might be time to consider a leave of absence for himself.  Then the youngest Weasley boy takes off Harry’s cloak.

“R-” Albus is cut off by Ron putting a hand up and mimicking shushing without making any actual noise.  He gestures for Albus to join him under the cloak.  Undeniably intrigued, Albus goes.

Ron leads him out of the castle, careful to ensure they are neither seen nor heard or in any other way caught.  It’s not until they enter the tunnel under the Whomping Willow that he takes off the cloak.

“There’s a few things you are not aware of Headmaster,” Ron begins, still walking down the tunnel with Albus following along.

“That seems to be a consistent theme of late,” Albus replies, Ron snorts slightly, though it sounds anything but amused.

“Yes, well.  We need your help.”

“We could not have done this back in my office?” Ron shakes his head.

“It’s not safe, anyone could overhear and in that castle right now, that could mean the end of it.” Albus frowns in concern as they enter the shack and begin to climb the stairs.

“End of what, exactly?  And who is ‘we’?”

“That would be us, Professor.”  Albus looks up to find Harry, Hermione, Lupin, and Tonks standing before him, Lupin appearing just as confused as he.

“Perhaps you ought to tell us what this is about, Mr Potter,” Albus suggests, gesturing to himself and Lupin.

“To be honest, Sir, I’ve a fair few gaps in my knowledge and memory of the situation.  Best let Ron and Hermione take care of that,” Harry tells him.  Albus leans against the now closed door and nods for Ron to do so.

“Back in August, when you and Moody came by the Burrow, Harry got a funny feeling off of Moody.  Just before the world cup he had a dream about a man he didn’t know, Peter Pettigrew, and you-know-who,” Ron begins, Albus has to admit that he’s surprised whatever is happening has been going on so long.

“Why have I not been informed of any of this?” Albus asks, Tonks winces.

“If you’re going to stop us and ask that every time something comes up, this is going to take a very long time, Sir,” She tells him.

“You’re in on this?” Remus asks her, “Whatever _this_ is?”

“So are you, though you didn’t know it,” Tonks tells him, he looks at her incredulously.

“Perhaps we had better let them explain,” Albus suggests, they all turn back to Ron and Hermione.

“Padfoot and Professor Moony told Harry and I that Wormtail had escaped after Harry told them about the dream.  Then the world cup happened, so we were fairly certain that Harry’s dream held some amount of truth.  After Harry’s name came out of the cup, Dean theorised that perhaps it is Peter’s attempt to kill Harry.  We were concerned then that Padfoot would take off after him,” Hermione continues.

“Which he did,” Remus comments.

“No, he didn’t,” Tonks says, Albus and Remus look at her in surprise, “We think he’s been captured.  See, the ministry is trying to make things up to him, so if anyone were going to be able to get Harry out of the tournament, it would have been him.  They needed to get rid of him, but if he’d turned up dead, everything would have been thrown off.  They made him disappear and correctly assumed everyone would think he went after Pettigrew.”

“Right, but Harry still suspected Moody enough that he wouldn’t let it go, so we promised to look into it and he promised to focus on the tournament,” Ron explains, “We were planning on watching the map to keep an eye on him but ended up asking Ginny to do it.  At some point in the night she borrowed Harry’s invisibility cloak and went to check on something.  That was the night she disappeared.”

“The next morning we wondered if we should tell you, Professor,” Hermione says, looking at Remus, “But the twins had seen what happened to your classroom and put together what was going on.  They asked Ron about it, he swore them to secrecy about everything and then brought it to Harry.  More importantly, however.  We realised it was a pretty big coincidence that Padfoot disappears, you have your focus shifted somewhere else, and Harry is entered into the tournament.  All we knew at that point is that it somehow involved Moody.  Whoever was behind it was clearly keeping an eye on Professor Moony, if we went to you about it, they would have known we were onto them.”

“Now we knew that Moody isn’t who he says he is, we tried to work out how he’s disguising himself.  Back when Moody first turned up at Hogwarts, Harry wondered what was in that flask of his which made Hermione think he was using it for Polyjuice potion.  So, now we had a working theory, but another problem.  If one person in the school has been replaced, who else might have been?” Ron tells them.

“Hence all the secrecy,” Albus says, Ron nods.

“That’s when we went to Tonks.”

“Right, they told me all they knew up to that point,” Tonks begins explaining, “I told them to search Moody’s office, quarters, and classroom while I kept him out of the school.  I took him to your house, had Kreacher tell him some bogus story about a rat and Sirius being captured,” She says.

“Unfortunately, we’d lost the map and the cloak,” Ron continues, “So when we went to search, we had to be careful.  Hermione went to look in his quarters, I took the classroom, and Harry to his office.”

“Right, Hermione came running in yelling that she’d found the map,” Harry comments, face scrunched in thought as he tries to properly recall the incident, Ron and Hermione nod as Hermione flushes slightly.

“Exactly, that’s when we got the cloak back too.  Also, you found evidence of the Polyjuice potion.  We used the map to find Moody and Ginny-”

“Wait, you _found_ them?!” Tonks asks, Ron nods, “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“We couldn’t.”

“Why?” Remus asks.

“Moody pointed out that until we know where Sirius is being held, tipping them off might get him killed,” Hermione explains, “So the two decided to stay where they were.  Said they’d be safe so long as Ginny doesn’t keep angering Crouch.”

“Crouch?” The three adults and Harry ask.

“Barty Crouch Jr, Mr Crouch’s son.  He’s the one imitating Moody.  He’s believed to have died in Azkaban, but he didn’t, we aren’t sure how,” Hermione tells them.

“And he’s the one that nabbed Uncle Padfoot?” Harry asks.

“No, we still think that’s Pettigrew’s doing.” Remus rubs the bridge of his nose.

“So the two are working together?  What for?”

“According to Moody, to bring you-know-who back.  He said that Harry being in this tournament was part of their plan.  Ginny told him not to go anywhere alone,” Ron says.

“Which I did and then got attacked?” Harry asks, they nod, “Does that mean it was Moody-Crouch-whatever, that attacked me?”

“He’s the one who had been threatening Moony and it was in his office that you were attacked so, we’d say so, yes.”

“And that attack lead to you leaving the school,” Albus adds, looking at Remus who seems unhappy.

“What’s changed, why are you telling us all of this now?” Tonks asks the kids.

“I had another dream,” Harry tells them, “Voldemort has Ginny, he’s having Pettigrew torture her.”  Everyone looks shocked and horrified except Ron who had already known.

“Why?” Albus asks, “What does he want with her?”  Harry awkwardly looks down.

“We’re not entirely sure, Sir,” Hermione responds, not noticing Harry continuing to not meet anyone’s eyes.

“Harry…?” Remus asks him in what Harry internally refers to as his ‘Expectant Uncle’ voice that lets Harry know he has a few seconds to start talking before the disappointed look begins marring Remus’ face.

“She didn’t want anyone to know, and it won’t help us find her or stop them,” Harry tells them.  They all look at him expectantly, “Voldemort possessed her through the diary two years ago.  She couldn’t fight him off, so she looked into the part of him the diary held.”

“She looked into a fragment of Voldemort’s soul?” Albus asks disbelievingly, Harry nods.

“I’m not sure it was entirely on purpose but…yes.  I can’t think of any other reason he’d want anything from her, but I also don’t know how he’d have found out.  Unless she told him, which, would be pretty stupid.”

“So exactly what happened, then?” Ron guesses.

“Probably, yes.”

“Do we have any idea where Ginny and Sirius are being held?” Remus asks, the trio shake their heads.

“The real Moody has no further idea?” Albus questions, Ron and Hermione shake their heads.

“We don’t know what to do, Sir,” Harry admits.  Remus steps forward, hugging him.  He opens one arm up so that Hermione can join the hug.  He often feels as responsible for her as he does for Harry since he and Sirius got to know her so well over the summer and she spent so much time in their care.  Plus, she’s one of the few people to be able to shout sense into his brain until he understands and stops being stupid.

“At this point, there is not much we can do,” Dumbledore finally says.

“He’s torturing my _sister_!” Ron tells him, aghast.

“Yes, and had one of you come to me before now, perhaps some action could have been taken,” Albus replies sharply, everyone seems taken aback, “As it is, one wrong move will lead to not only Sirius’ death, but Ginny’s as well, and quite possibly the resurrection of Voldemort.”  They all look around awkwardly.

“Has anyone any idea how they plan to bring Voldemort back?” Remus asks, “Or what Harry’s participation in the tournament has to do with it?”

“They’re trying to kill me?” Harry suggests.

“Seems like an awful lot of trouble to go to just for that, Harry.”

“Yes, but, on the other hand, it’s Voldemort.  He unnecessarily overcomplicates things for a living and failed to kill me because of it before.” Everyone seems confused, Harry huffs, “Well, seriously, why didn’t he just fire the killing curse at my Mother, pick me up, and throw me out of a window or something?  Or against a wall?  I was a year old, really.”

“Tell you what, when we find him, you can ask,” Ron tells him, Harry rolls his eyes at the tone Ron uses, suggesting Harry’s a bloody idiot.

“How _are_ we going to find him?” Harry asks, Albus sighs wearily.

“I think that given time, Harry, he will find you.”


	23. Chapter 23

**_Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter._ **

 

Harry sits by the window in his dorm as he thinks over the situation they are met with.  The final task is a week away, his memories are coming back slowly but steadily, now remembering up to the first task, though not the task itself.  Harry can’t really bring himself to care, he just wants to make it through this last task, find his Uncle, and rescue Ginny.

“And we have no idea what this task will be?” Dean asks, Hermione shakes her head.

“Well then how do we get him ready?” Neville asks, Hermione sighs.

“We can’t,” She replies.  Harry doesn’t turn around, but he can feel them all looking at him.

“They won’t really let him die, will they?” Ron asks, Hermione looks away.

“This is wrong,” she whispers, tears filling her eyes.

“What if Harry’s sick?” Seamus asks.

“Right, or we could break his leg or something?”

“Magic, Hermione.  It’d be healed again in a minute flat,” Dean reminds her.

“Right.”

“He could just not show up?” Neville suggests.

“What?  And run from a fight?” Seamus sounds scandalised by the very idea of it.

“Harry?” Ron asks, Harry doesn’t turn around, just continues staring hopelessly out the window.  Then his gaze falls on something in particular, and he smirks, “Harry…?” Ron asks again, seeing the smirk in the window reflection.

“Bravery and justice is all well and good, but it won’t help us here.  We’re thinking like Gryffindors.  That won’t help us as we ferret for a way _out_ of a problem.”  The others all exchange looks.

“What do you suggest?” Hermione asks, Harry looks over, smirk firmly in place.

“We ask a ferret.”

 

 

“Malfoy!” Draco rolls his eyes as he turns around, Pansy, Vince, and Greg behind him.

“What do you want Potter?”

“Walk with me?”

“He’s not going _anywhere_ with you,” Pansy tells him sharply, Harry channels his inner Sirius Black and smiles disarmingly at her, unknowingly resembling his father quite a bit.

“I assure you Miss Parkinson…is it Miss or is it Lady?” Pansy blushes slightly, tucking her hair behind her ear.

“Miss, until my Father passes that is.” Harry’s smile grows more charming.

“Well, future-Lady Parkinson,” She flushes again, “I assure you, I only want to get his opinion on something.  I may be his nemesis, but even I can see he’s an incredibly talented wizard.  Unless, you think I should get help somewhere else…?” Pansy’s eyes widen.

“No, no of course not.  There’s no one better than Draco,” She replies, nodding at Draco who stares at both of them in disbelief.

“Well then, _Draco_ , shall we?” Draco’s face twitches, but he follows after Harry.

“Never thought I’d see you so obviously manipulate someone, Golden Boy,” Draco tells him once they have walked away, “Doesn’t seem very Gryffindor-y to me.”

“Gryffindor-y?  Is that the technical term?” Draco rolls his eyes, Harry snickers, “Manipulation or no, I _do_ need your opinion on something.”

“And why would I give you this?”

“You’ve never hesitated to give it before.” Draco snorts, somehow managing to do so majestically, Harry gives up on Draco following the laws of physics.

“What is it, then?” Harry stops walking, looking at the other boy for a long moment.

“I don’t want to compete in this tournament.” Draco looks genuinely surprised by that, “We have had some warning on every other task and we’ve done our best to get me prepared and still I have barely survived.  But this?  We have no idea what’s coming and I don’t even remember how I got through the first one.  I do not want to die, not today.”

“Now that really isn’t very Gryffindor-y.” Harry smiles slightly.

“That’s why I’m here for the opinion of a Slytherin.  You’re all about slyness and self-preservation.  So tell me, please.  How do I get out of this alive?” Draco crosses his arms, looking Harry over.

“You really didn’t enter this tournament yourself, did you?” Harry shakes his head.  Draco bites on his lower lip for a moment before he sighs, “Bunch of Gryffindors, I’m not surprised you didn’t come up with the simplest solution.”

“Which is?” Draco chuckles.

“Forfeit.” Harry looks confused, “They have never denied the chance to give up, to fail a challenge.  The second it starts, quit.  Nothing will have the chance to kill you,” He tells him, Harry frowns, then nods.

“I…am not surprised but rather disappointed that that did not occur to any of us,” Harry tells him, “Thank you, Malfoy.” Draco nods at him, then grabs his arm as Harry tries to walk away, “Draco?”

“For anyone else it doesn’t matter, but you are not anyone else.” Harry frowns in confusion, “You are The Boy Who Lived, Harry.  You have a destiny, a destiny to lead people, to save them.  If you quit, you lose all their faith in you, and that could lead to far worse than your own death.”

“I never asked to be The Boy Who Lived.  I don’t want to be anyone’s saviour.” Draco scoffs.

“Do you really think that matters?  My father and the others, they don’t continue following the beliefs of a dead man because they think he will stay gone.  They are afraid of him coming back and finding they have done otherwise.  You really think that he’ll care if you wanted this?  That any of them will?  We are talking about the most powerful Dark Wizard to ever exist.  It doesn’t matter if you want to do this or not, it will happen to you either way.  But whether or not have the wizarding world backing you?  _That_ you can decide.” Harry and Draco lock eyes for a moment, then Draco releases him, “Besides, who am I going to torment if the rest of the world is tormenting you?” Harry smiles lightly, “Stay close to another contestant.  If something happens, throw them into it, continue on, don’t look back.”

“Just imagine they are you, then?  Throw them into fiendfyre?” Draco smirks.

“Oh please, you’d never leave me to burn.”

“Keep telling yourself that, Draco.”

 

 

Sirius startles awake when he hears a thump, he looks up to see a crumpled form and Wormtail’s retreating figure, then the door shuts again.

“Ow,” the crumpled form moans.  Sirius grabs his un-drunk water from his breakfast and gently rolls the form over.  She jerks away.

“I’m trying to help, I have water.”

“Pa’foo?” Sirius pushes the hair out of her face.

“Ginny?”  She blinks a few times before her eyes cooperate and remain open.

“They were right,” She whispers as she looks at him, he seems confused, “Harry and the others, they said you hadn’t run away.”

“Ginny, why are you here?” Sirius asks.

“I stumbled upon the real Moody, got trapped in a trunk for a few months, now I’m here.”

“Sorry-the real Moody?” Ginny seems surprised.

“Wow, you just…have no idea what is going on here, do you?”

“Only that they’ve got a plan to make Voldemort whole again and it’s got something to do with Harry’s blood.” Ginny frowns.

“His…blood?  Why haven’t they just taken it?”

“Hell if I know.  Maybe it has to be under certain circumstances?  Just catch me up on what I don’t know.”  She nods and then does.

Ten minutes later…

“Okay, I still don’t understand the point of putting Harry through the tournament,” Sirius tells her, Ginny sighs.

“Neither do I, but I can’t help thinking the point isn’t to kill him.”

“What do you mean?” Sirius asks, she scrunches her forehead in thought.

“I think he is supposed to make it through, I think he is supposed to win.  I think there’s something waiting for him at the finishing line, and it’s not a bag of galleons and the cup.” The two stare at each other unhappily for a moment.

Neither have any snarky comments left to give.


	24. Chapter 24

**_Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter_ **

 

It’s the final task today.

It’s on everyone’s mind.

Thanks to Sirius keeping count of the days, he and Ginny know it is today.  He screams at Peter even more than usual to stop being a coward and, “FUCKING HELP US!  HELP _HIM_!” ‘him’ of course referring to Harry and not Voldemort.  Peter merely walks away.  Ginny and Sirius hold each other as they settle in to wait, they are afraid.

Moody, the real Moody, is told as a taunt by Barty Jr that the task is today, he is not afraid.  Perhaps he feels slightly…off-put by the idea, but he is not afraid.

Remus and Tonks arrive at the school early that day, Remus’ leave of absence concluded.  They know everything will come to a head today, and afterwards, it won’t matter anymore.  Either Barty Jr will be dealt with, or they will have far more problems than a few threats.  Sitting on the steps of the school for a breather before heading into the stands, they are petrified.

Ron, Hermione, Neville, Seamus, and Dean are nervous.  Not afraid, they are children and far too used to comforting themselves with Harry’s track record of surviving the trouble he finds himself in.  They do not want him to die, and perhaps one would even describe them as scared, but it is not true fear.  They are too innocent and naïve for that. 

Harry is not so.  Harry is sat in a room, an hour before the task begins, in front of a mirror he honestly is unsure why he went in search for.  Dumbledore had told him not to, but here he is.  In all honesty, he had not gone _looking_ for the Mirror of Erised, he had merely gone walking and stumbled upon it, just as he had that first night.  As Harry sits in front of it, he keeps his eyes closed, concerned for what he will see in it.  Then he opens his eyes, and he gasps.  Is that… _Malfoy_?!

“All right there, Potter?” Harry straight up screams as he jumps around and sees the other boy.

“Oh thank god for that, you are an _actual_ reflection.”  Draco frowns in confusion, Harry shakes his head, “Don’t worry.  What do you want?”

“Do you remember what we were talking about a week ago?” Harry nods, “I have an idea.”

“What?” Draco smirks.

“Still got that invisibility cloak I’m not supposed to know about?” Harry narrows his eyes at Draco for a moment, then decides the hows and whys can wait until later.  He nods, “Then come on, we don’t have much time.”

 

 

Harry stands ready for the final task.  The other contestants seem afraid, Harry doesn’t so much as twitch a limb in nerves.  He meets the eye of every person in the crowd that means something to him and smiles confidently.  Somehow…that seems to make them even more nervous.

He supposes that’s fair.

As Harry walks into the maze, he feels slightly twitchy, but honestly, the nerve-wracking part is over with now.

Then a hedge tries to kill him, he doesn’t see it but is yanked out of the way by an invisible force.

“Thanks,” Harry says in the general direction.

“How have you survived so long without me watching your back?” Draco drawls, Harry rolls his eyes, but smiles slightly as the two walk on.  Draco keeps a hand on Harry’s shoulder so they don’t lose each other, being careful to remain under the invisibility cloak.

Harry does save Fleur by sending up sparks, but follows Draco’s advice on leaving her and moving on.  They are attacked by a possessed Krum after that, but the two make it through just fine.  Cedric didn’t exactly help.  But anyway. 

Then they race Cedric towards the cup, lagging behind slightly in their attempt to stay together.  That is, until Cedric falls victim to a bunch of roots.  Harry stops running.

“Harry!  No!  Bad Harry!  Just _leave_ hi-and you’re already going after him.” Draco shakes his head as he sighs, going back towards Harry.

As the three stand by the cup, Draco grabs a tight hold of Harry, unsure what will happen as he and Cedric both touch at simultaneously.

They find themselves in a graveyard.

“We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto,” Harry says, both Draco and Cedric look at him like he’s insane.  Harry can’t see Draco doing it, but he _knows_ , “It’s a Muggle thing,” He explains dismissively as they start looking around, “I’ve been here before,” Harry comments, looking around.

“It’s a portkey, Harry, the cup is a portkey,” Cedric tells him, Draco rolls his eyes but bites back any comment he usually would have given to pointing out such an obvious fact. 

“I’ve been here before,” Harry repeats, “In a dream.”  Draco frowns at Harry in concern.  When Harry sees the name on the grave, his blood runs cold.

“Harry?” Draco asks quietly, still not revealing himself.

“We have to get out of here,” Harry hisses at him, “Cedric, we have to get back to the cup!” Harry says louder. 

“What are you talking about?” Cedric asks, Draco sees movement before the others and subtly moves Harry back towards Cedric.  Strength in numbers and all.  Suddenly Harry yells out in pain, clutching his scar, and a fire is started beneath a cauldron Draco curses himself for not seeing.  Then he sees _him_.  Deformed and weak but…unmistakable, even to one who has never seen him.

“Harry, what is it?” Cedric asks, unaware of Draco helping steady Harry as much as possible without being caught.  He’s pretty sure they will need the element of surprise here.

“GET BACK TO THE CUP!” Harry yells, Draco’s grip tightens.

“WHO ARE YOU?  WHAT DO YOU WANT?” Cedric demands, raising his wand against Voldemort and the other man.  Draco doesn’t recognise him, he also doesn’t think it matters right now.  Although Cedric is being stupid, not getting back to the cup, Draco can’t help but admire the courage.  He won’t leave Harry behind and he stands before people who he knows pose a threat, unaided, unhidden, unaware.  Is that what it means to be a hero? Draco wonders.  He screws his nose up in distaste, what’s the point if you’ll die moments after?

“Kill the ssspare!” Voldemort hisses, Draco drops Harry and moves in front of Cedric instantly.  But the man pulls out his wand as quickly as Draco moves.

“Avada Kedavra!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick thing, that whole bit about Draco saying even someone who has never met Voldemort would recognise him (I.E. him) yet Ginny, who knows a version of him rather personally, found nothing at all recognisable, was written like that one purpose. The point was, she saw nothing in him. Nothing of Tom, nothing of the young man she knew as Voldemort. She knew him, that’s why she didn’t recognise him. The person he became in the years following the making of the diary horcrux is someone unrecognisable to her.
> 
> Also, this was meant to be the second to last chapter, but it came out really long and I decided to break it up. So there’s a few more to go but it’s all written! 


	25. Chapter 25

**_Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter_ **

 

“Avada Kedavra!” The man casts, Draco blocks it _just_ in time.  Thank Merlin his Father is interested in the dark arts and taught him to block such things, right?  Everyone stands around in shock, none sure what happened.  Then Draco pulls off the robe.

“What are you doing here?” Cedric asks him, Draco sighs.

“You know what, I’ve been asking myself that bloody question all day,” He replies.  Harry chuckles slightly, then hisses in pain again.

“Didn’t stop you though, did it?”

“Guess you’re rubbing off on me.”

“Foolish boy, you’d have died to protect this one, who cares for you not at all?” Voldemort hisses at Draco, “I recognise you, do you think your father will not hear about this?” Draco scoffs.

“Is that how annoying it is to hear that?”

“Yes,” Harry and Cedric both say.

“Wormtail, _kill_ them,” Voldemort demands, Draco’s eyes widen, now knowing who this is.  Cedric and Draco both raise their wands against the other two, Harry pulling himself upright to do the same.  But Peter doesn’t raise his wand again, “Wormtail?” Peter looks at Harry.

“You look so much like him,” He says quietly, Harry doesn’t feel the anger he did the last time Wormtail mentioned his Dad to him.  He’s not sure why.  Then Peter turns his wand on Voldemort, “Stupefy!”  The three boys stare at Wormtail in shock, he seems just as off-kilter.

“Thank you,” Harry says, unthinkingly but genuinely, Peter nods.

“I’m sorry,” He tells him.  It shouldn’t have been enough, not after everything.  Harry is an orphan because of him.  But Harry knows nothing will change that, knows there is nothing that Wormtail could do to make it right.  This is all he has to give, and he’s giving it.  Harry nods back.  Then Wormtail apparates away.

“So um…what exactly do we tell people happened?” Cedric asks as they walk over to the cup, “And also.  What _did_ just happen?”

“The man who betrayed my parents and helped Voldemort try to kill me just stopped Voldemort from killing me.  And you both.  Though he did try to kill you first.  I think it was Draco risking his own life to save yours that made him waver.  Then I look just like his best mate who he betrayed and…well I also assume Sirius has been cursing him for a while about it all,” Harry explains.

“So what, he switched sides again?  What’s he going to do now?  You-know-who will kill him when he wakes up,” Draco tells him, Harry nods.

“Possibly.  I don’t know.  I have a good feeling about this.”

“That brings us back to my first question,” Cedric points out.

“We go back, we act like we grabbed the cup from the maze and leave it there.  I’ll tell Dumbledore about what happened later.  There’s no point in panicking everyone else if Uncle Wormy really has turned again,” Harry says, they both nod.

“Also, what _is_ he doing here?” Cedric asks, pointing at Malfoy.

“Keeping him alive, and also, apparently, you,” Draco replies shortly, Cedric nods.

“Fair enough.  Back under the invisibility cloak th-…you know what, I’m not even going to question the invisibility cloak.”  Harry smirks, nodding.

“Good call.”

“Have to say though, it’s sort of unfortunate no one else will know,” Draco admits, “How many people can say they survived standing against _him_?”

“The deformed and weakened being that was once you-kn…” Cedric trails off momentarily, “That was once Voldemort?” He clarifies after a moment.  Draco and Harry look at him in surprise, he shrugs, “If that’s all he’s left as then I see no reason to fear his name.”

“How very Gryffindor-y,” Harry says, Draco rolls his eyes, much to the confusion of Cedric, “Inside joke,” Harry explains.

“Since when are you two friends anyway?” Cedric asks as Draco pulls the cloak over his head.

“I find it’s best not to question things too closely and just go with it,” Harry says, Draco hits him, “Ow!” Cedric snickers.  Not because Draco hit Harry, but because it looks like Harry flinched away and complained to thin air.

“Right, let’s get back before they all think we’ve _actually_ been murdered.”

They grab the cup and are transported back.

 

Meanwhile, Ginny and Sirius sit in the cellar-turned-cell, waiting for news, any news, on Harry.  Then Peter appears with a sharp _crack_.

“Harry?” Sirius asks, not bothering to care about who he is asking.  Peter drops his bundle, Voldemort tumbles down, unconscious.  Ginny and Sirius slowly look up from the mutated form to look at Wormtail in shock.  Peter grabs his wand and hands it to Ginny.

“Kill him, or me.  Or both.  If anyone deserves to, it’s you.”  She stares at him with wide eyes, “I looked into what a horcrux is.  So I know it won’t kill him, not when there are probably more.  But it’ll make it harder, give someone time to find them.”  Ginny looks between he and the wand, then points it at Voldemort.

“ _Avada Kedavra!_ ” She casts without any further hesitation, Sirius thinks perhaps he needs to have a carefully worded conversation with Minerva about Ginny.  She heaves a breath once it’s done, seeing his body just disintegrate, some disembodied being racing around the room, “ _AVADA KEDAVRA!_ ” She casts at it again, it screams and disappears out the room.  Ginny looks to Peter, then to Sirius, then back to Peter.  She hands the wand to Sirius, “It’s your choice now.”  Peter kneels before him, awaiting his execution.

“Is Harry safe?” Sirius asks Peter who nods.

“He is.”  Sirius points the wand at Peter who closes his eyes, tensing slightly but otherwise doing nothing.

“It’s a shame, isn’t it?  Destroying a creature like that can have such disastrous consequences,” Sirius says, pointing the wand at the wall, “Bombarda!” The wall explodes, Peter looks up in shock, “After all, it destroyed the Potters home,” Sirius points out, Peter flinches at the memory of them.  Then Sirius destroys another wall, “The backlash of it has been known to kill people.”  Sirius holds a hand out to Peter who warily takes it and allows himself to be pulled to his feet, “Such a shame you died in the explosion, isn’t it?” He asks, handing Peter his wand.

“Wha-?”

“Ginny and I need to get back to Hogwarts.  I would suggest you aren’t here when the Aurors arrive.  It would be hard to explain how you survived this time after I mention the fire that was enveloping the house as we left.”

“Fire?” Peter asks, Sirius nods at his wand, his eyes widen, then he nods.

“Come on Ginny.”  Ginny and Sirius walk out, grabbing Sirius’ wand from the living room mantel and apparating back to just outside of Hogwarts.

 

They go straight to Moody’s office.

“ _This_ is where you were kept, for _months_?” Sirius asks, opening the trunk, Ginny nods.

“Moody?” Ginny calls down, Moody looks up.

“Back so soon?” He asks, she grins.

“Actually, it’s been a while.  But I’ve brought help,” She says, Sirius peers over.

“Question is, how do we get you out of there?”

In the end, they levitate him out.

“Right then, let’s go catch ourselves a Death Eater.”

 

Moody uses the floo to contact the Auror office before the three of them and an Auror head down to the stadium.  Of course, Moody is missing both a leg and an eye, so they end up leaving him grumbling in the hospital wing.  The others arrive in time to see the Harry and Cedric arrive, seemingly alone.

“We need a distraction, one that will panic him and make him run,” the Auror that Moody had contacted says, Ginny grins.  She breaks away from them, coming round the other side before sprinting full force.

“HARRY!” She throws himself at the boy who instinctively catches her.

“Ginny?!”  Harry asks incredulously.  Suddenly there’s a thud, the two look over to see one Moody on the ground, being handcuffed by Tonks.  Remus is standing away a bit, his foot sticking out as he leans against a wall, looking smugly at the angered imposter.

“You have earned yourself a one way ticket to Azkaban, my friend,” the Auror states.

“King?” Remus asks, Kingsley Shacklebolt smiles.

“Remus!  How are you?”

“He’s busy, you know, dealing with the situation,” Tonks replies tetchily as she struggles to hold down the Death Eater below her.

“Right, come on then, let’s get him back to the Ministry.”

“Headmaster, you aren’t seriously going to let them take Professor Moody, are you?” Seamus calls out of the crowd.

“I think you’ll find he _Siriusly_ is.”  Harry looks over in the direction the voice came from and immediately breaks away from Ginny, sprinting over.

“Uncle Padfoot!” Harry calls, Sirius grins, opening his arms and wrapping them around Harry as the boy barrels into him.

“Hi Harry.  Did you get that quiet year you were hoping for?” Harry chuckles.

“I’ll have plenty of quiet when I’m dead.”

“Which one of you got the cup?” Fudge asks, looking between Harry and Cedric.

“We both did, Minister, simultaneously,” Harry tells him, he seems shocked, Cedric merely nods, trying not to laugh.  He’s not sure why really, today was bad and terrifying after all but, suddenly he can’t hold it in anymore.  He laughs, then Harry is laughing too.

“Finally cracked, have you?” Ginny asks Harry, Harry just grins.

He’s missed her.


	26. Chapter 26

**_Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter_ **

 

A while later finds Sirius, Remus, Tonks, Hermione, Moody, Ginny, Ron, Harry, Cedric, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Minister Fudge, and Amos Diggory in the hospital wing.

“So, shall we-” Dumbledore begins saying, Harry and Cedric both shake their heads.

“Not yet, Sir,” Cedric says, much to everyone’s astonishment.

“While we wait, you should have this,” Harry says, holding out his bag of prize money to Cedric.

“What?  No, we both grabbed the cup.”

“Yes, but I cheated,” Harry reminds him, everyone else seems shocked.

“And if you didn’t, I’d be dead right now.” Everyone seems even more shocked.

“On both accounts then, I think it should all go to me,” A voice says from the doorway, everyone looks up to see Draco saunter in, closing the door behind him, “Your cloak,” Draco says, chucking it to Harry who nods in thanks.

“Now can we begin?” Remus asks in bewilderment, Harry nods.

“So, the cup was a portkey, it took us to a graveyard where Wormtail and Voldemort were-”

“VOLDEMORT?!” McGonagall shrieks, startling herself as well as the rest of the room.

“He’s dead, don’t worry,” Ginny tells her.

“He is?” Cedric asks, she nods, “Good.”

“Anyway, it took us to a graveyard, Wormy tried to kill Cedric-”

“He-what?” Amos asks, “Who is Wormy?”

“Also dead,” Ginny replies, Harry looks over quickly.  He feels Draco put a hand on his shoulder comfortingly.  Harry isn’t sure if what he feels is sadness, not really.  After all, the man had betrayed his family, had tortured Ginny, had tried to kill Cedric and in doing so almost killed Draco.  So he’s not sad he’s dead, more so sad that he hadn’t the opportunity to do the right thing, “He died destroying Voldemort.”  Harry smiles slightly, that he could work with.

“Point is, Draco saved my life-” Cedric says to move the conversation along.

“What exactly was Malfoy doing there in the first place?” Ginny asks.

“Protecting your boyfriend.”

“Oh, thanks.”

“I’m not her-I’m not your boyfriend!” Harry says, Ginny just winks at him.

“ _Anyway_ , I saved Cedric, Harry looks like his Father, Pettigrew stunned Voldemort and disapparated, we all went home happy,” Draco concludes, Harry looks at him in surprise, “What?”

“You said Voldemort.”  Draco shrugs.

“Well, the Hufflepuff was right.”

“Thanks for that,” Cedric tells him dryly, Draco smirks, “You’ve been spending too much time with Harry.  You’ve picked up his smirk.”

“Wha-I didn’t pick up his smirk, _he_ picked up _my_ smirk.”

“I did not!”

“You did.”

“Didn’t.”

“Did.” 

“Didn’t!” The two glare at each other icily for a moment.

“So how did you lot get away? And also, what was with Professor Moody getting arrested but also being here?” Draco asks, he and Harry turning back to the group like nothing happened.  Sirius smirks.

“You know, I think perhaps you picked it up from him, and it’s just a family trait that got passed to Draco through his mother,” Cedric says, Harry and Draco look at Sirius appraisingly and then nod.

“I think perhaps you two should explain everything on your end,” Dumbledore tells Ginny and Sirius.

“Well, Wormtail showed up in the cellar I’ve been locked in since September, Ginny got there about a week ago,” Sirius begins, “P-”

“Hold on, the Weaslette went missing _months_ ago,” Draco says, holding a hand up to stop the story.

“Right, back in December,” Cedric agrees.

“Yes, I was being held with Moody for most of the rest of it,” Ginny tells them.

“Moody?” They both ask at once.

“A Death Eater was impersonating me using Polyjuice potion,” Moody tells them.

“A what was doing _what_?” Minister Fudge asks.

“Oh this is going terribly,” Hermione complains.

“Honestly, okay.  Somehow, we still aren’t sure how, but somehow, Barty Crouch Jr is not dead.  He broke- and we aren’t sure how on this either- but he broke Peter Pettigrew out of Azkaban.  Voldemort, in a mutated husk of a body, ordered Jr to round up the troops, that was what the business at the World Cup was about.  Then he kidnapped Mad-Eye, stuffed him into a Trunk, and routinely stole his hair to use in Polyjuice potion.  He entered Harry’s name into the Goblet of Fire and ran Moony out of the school.  Pettigrew nabbed Sirius, not sure exactly what happened there either.  Harry worked out something was up with ‘Moody’ and got Hermione and Ron to investigate.  They asked me to keep an eye out, I took a stupid risk, I got stuffed in the trunk along with Moody.  At some point after that, they found us, informed us that Sirius had been kidnapped, and for that reason we decided to remain where we were because to do anything else until Sirius was found would have put him in danger.  Some time later, Jr opened the trunk, declared I was being moved, I got taken to Voldemort, then shoved in with Sirius.  A week later, that is, a few hours ago, Pettigrew showed up with an unconscious Voldemort.  He’d turned on him, for what reason, I’m not entirely sure, but he did.  Voldemort was killed, and the resulting cacophony of energy destroyed him.  The house was in flames when Sirius and I found his wand and escaped.  We went straight to the trunk to rescue Moody, contacted a friend or colleague or whatever of Mad-Eye’s from the Aurors’ office, left Moody here, and then went down to the stadium.  You were there for the rest,” Ginny explains to Fudge.

“Also, Crouch Jr attacked Harry and obliviated him, had him forget most of the year.  Madam Pomfrey’s helping him recover his memories, though,” Ron adds.

Everyone sits in silence for a while as they digest all of it.

“I still don’t understand what Malfoy has to do with anything,” Hermione eventually says.

“Remember when I said I was going to ask for a Ferret’s advice?” Harry asks, Draco smacks him over the head, Harry chuckles, Hermione nods.

“Yes, and what’s this about you cheating in the tournament, Mr Potter?” Fudge asks disapprovingly.

“Well, you see, a Death Eater in disguise entered me in against my will, and, despite the fact that I am not old enough to be involved, the now-deceased father of said Death Eater forced me to participate.  Then one of my Uncles disappeared.  Then I was attacked, forgot succeeding in the first task, and my other Uncle was run out of the school by the same Death Eater who was trying to use the tournament to lure me to Voldemort.  So, I kind of figured at that point that it’s all been rigged to leave me alone and defenceless.  I disliked that option,” Harry replies calmly.  Fudge doesn’t have a response to that, simply nods.

“Where _does_ Mr Malfoy come into this?” McGonagall asks, bewildered by his involvement.  So is everyone else, honestly.

“He asked for my advice, I gave it.  Then, I came up with another idea.  I hid under his invisibility cloak and snuck into the maze with him to watch his back,” Draco tells them, “And ended up blocking a killing curse intended for Diggory.”

“Fair enough,” Tonks comments.

“Well, I guess that’s that, then,” Fudge states, clearly in a state of shock.  Everyone else awkwardly nods, “Congratulations on winning the tournament, boys.  However unconventionally.”  Cedric and Harry both nod at him.

“Thank you, Sir,” They both say, then he leaves the room.

“Sooooooo…what do we do now?” Ginny asks, everyone looks around awkwardly.

“I don’t know, but whatever it is, I’m sure Draco’s father will hear about it,” Cedric says lightly, Harry bursts into laughter as Draco glowers at them.

“I hate you both.”

 


	27. Chapter 27

**_Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter_ **

 

Sirius Black is standing just inside the Forbidden Forest.  He’s not entirely sure why, perhaps he’s just missed being outside, and this place has always represented freedom. 

At least to him. 

A thousand memories of the Marauders messing about in here, both in animal and human form, flitter through his mind.  He almost misses the sound of familiar footsteps approaching.  Almost.

“It was risky to come here, Peter.”  Sirius turns to find his old friend standing there.

“I know but, I wanted to thank you.”  Sirius observes him for a moment with a frown.

“I don’t forgive you, Peter.”  Peter nods.

“I know.”  That seems to be all that needs saying on that subject, Sirius just nods.

“What will you do now?” Peter has a sad smile, yet a determined glint in his eye.

“I’m going to find you-know-who’s horcruxes, find a way to destroy them. Then he can’t come back.”  Sirius raises his eyebrows in surprise, Peter shrugs, “It seems like the right thing to do.  Besides, the least I can do for James and Lily is make sure he can never harm their son again.”  Sirius nods again.

“Good luck, Pete.” Peter smiles.

“Have a good life, Sirius.”  With that, he walks away.  Somehow, Sirius just knows, he won’t ever see his old friend again.

“Probably for the best, that,” He says to himself. 

Then he too walks away.

 

 

Later that night, Harry sits in front of the Mirror of Erised with his eyes closed, once more.

“Back again, Harry?” Harry opens his eyes and looks over to see Dumbledore standing in the doorway.

“Bit late for a stroll, isn’t it, Headmaster?” Harry asks conversationally, Dumbledore smiles lightly, taking a seat beside Harry.

“I find myself too paranoid to fall asleep I am afraid.  A year of having no idea or control over what happens in my castle will do that.”

“You couldn’t have known it wasn’t really Moody, Sir.”

“You did,” Dumbledore points out, Harry gives a half smile.

“No, my scar did.”  Dumbledore raises an eyebrow, “It reacts to Voldemort, it sensed enough of him on Jr to warn me something was off.”

“Hmm.  Tell me, why do you sit here without looking?”  Harry shrugs.

“I’m afraid of what I will see, Sir.  Whatever it is, it won’t be right, it won’t be enough.”

“The mirror shows you-”

“Your innermost desires, I know,” Harry says, “But if it shows me my parents again, it will be insinuating that my Uncles aren’t good enough, and that’s just not true.  If it doesn’t show them, then it’s like I’ve replaced them, and that’s not okay.  So it might show me my heart’s desire, but it will never be what I want to see.” Dumbledore seems proud, which surprises and confuses Harry immensely.

“Then why come at all?” Harry shakes his head.

“I don’t know Sir.  I suppose just knowing that the knowledge of what I want more than anything is right before me helps put everything into perspective.”

“I think you will find that knowing the desire itself will help a great deal more.” Harry frowns at his headmaster for a moment, then takes a deep breath, and finally looks into the mirror.  He stares at what he sees, in shock, in confusion, in overwhelming want.  He smiles, ever so slightly, “What do you see Harry?”  Harry meets Dumbledore’s gaze in the mirror.

“I see myself, Sir.  Holding a pair of socks.” Dumbledore’s eyes twinkle in amusement as he nods.

“Come, Harry.  I think it is time we both left this place.  For good.”

As Dumbledore and Harry leave the room, Harry takes one more glance at the mirror, currently appearing to hold all of his found and chosen family, and his parents, and people he assumes are also related to him.  In the centre is Harry, his Uncle Padfoot and Uncle Moony have a hand on each of his shoulders, his parents are directly behind him, and just to the side of Moony is Uncle Wormy.  A person stands on either side of Harry, both holding a hand of his each and beaming at real him. 

On his left is Ginny Weasley.

On his right is Draco Malfoy.

Harry thinks it might be time to have an awkward conversation with Uncle Padfoot and Uncle Moony.

 

 

“Are you all right Harry?” Hermione asks as they sit on the train coming back from Hogwarts, Harry nods.

“You know what the last two years have taught me the most?”

“What?”  Harry smiles at them both.

“I already had a family anyway.  Met them on a train four years ago.”  Ron and Hermione exchange looks before they both look back to him.

“That’s right, Mate,” Ron says, Hermione smiles, nodding.

“You’ll always have family in us.”

_“Harry!  Oh Merlin, Lily.  No, no, pull yourself together, get Harry out, then get that damned traitor.”_

_“Padfoot.”_

_“Harry, it’s all right, I’ve got you.  Be strong Harry, be brave.”_

_“Who’s there?”_

_“Hagrid, it’s me!”_

_“Hullo Sirius.  Dumbledore says I’m to take ‘Arry somewhere safe while all of this is sorted out.”_

_“Right, of course, brilliant idea.  Here, take my bike.”_

_“Padfoot.”_

_“Don’t worry Harry, just remember, you are loved.  I’ll be back for you, I promise.  Me and Uncle Moony, we’ll look after you.  You’ll always have family in us.”_

Harry leans against the window of the train, smiling lightly.

He has a family, he always has.

_“You are loved Harry.  Mama loves you, Dada loves you Harry, Harry you are so loved.”_

And he won’t ever forget it again.

**Author's Note:**

> Just a warning that unlike my other fic I’m currently writing, this one is not yet written. I’m updating while I’m writing but I’m also currently doing year 11 so, updates may grow a bit sporadic if my work load gets too much. Still, should be a chapter every day or two I’d say.


End file.
